^:> or>D 






^^. 






=3» > 









3>: 
35> 






::37 -r> > ^s 












^^ ^> 


















_>.'3> 






^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 

# : #• 

^~) [FORCE C01_^ECTI0NL-J I 






^'^- 7P C) 3 






— r> »> J* 



^m 















I UNITED STATES UF AMERICA. 















:>^>:> 









»r> 3>~ .>X> >>' ,J3» "^» ''^ - 

> ^>' .' > 3») ZJm '» ■ :•> 'Z 

> 3» -> z> :i> : 

• >:3 ~> "■&> ;;::a» '-i> > _ 



3 >-> ~ ^ 



1^ -;-> 5:> 






:>'^>> 





















:^miiei®air®iAm aaa^^i 



<* 



;^7 



i 



PT3 



■«r 



Presidential Election. 



The following pieces, copied from the Richmond En- 
quirer, having been published at different periods of 
the year 1823, are now imhodiei in the pamphlet 
form, and submitted to the calm consideration of the 
people. 

To the Editors of the Enquirer of May 13//t, 1823. 
THE PRESIDENCY. 

When the people of this Union were called upon to choose a 
chief magistrate under whom the new constitution was to go 
into operation, all eyes were instinctively turned to the man — 
" first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his coun- 
trymen." At the end of the second constitutional term, Wash- 
ington the great, voluntarily withdrew from power crowned 
with the blessings of America, and the admiration of the world. 

He was succeeded by Mr. Adams. This conscript father had, 
in his youth, drunk deeply at the crystal fountains of Greece and 
Rome and familiarized liis mind to the best models of antiquity. 
He had been the first, or among the very first, to sound the toc- 
sin against British wrong and oppression, and directly contri- 
buted by his counsels and his pen to the disruption of the colo- 
lonies from the paramount country. His elevation, therefore, to 
the executive chair, seemed but a just reward for the high talents 
and services he had given to the infant Republic. But before 
the end of one constitutional term evil counsels were found to 
prevail in the cabinet: and under the administration pf the man 



^p 



THE PRESIDENCY. 

to whom we had been so greatly indebted for political indepen- 
dence we were well nigh losing our civil liberties for ever. 

A change of administration was now loudly called for ; and 
Mr. Jefferson assumed the helm amidst the lengthened plau- 
dits of a nation of republicans. 

The mind of this great man was very early imbued with the 
spirit of the age — which, in his turn, he lias enlightened and 
advanced. At thirty four he gave us the immortal Declaration 
of Independence ; and bis intermediate services alone, at home 
and abroad, would have been sufficient to point him out to the 
gratitude of a virtuous and intelligent people. To him, there-, 
fore, it pre-eminently belonged to heal the wounds our free in- 
stitutions had sustained, and to re-assure the suflering nations of 
the world of the great political truth, first demonstrated in Ame- 
i-jca — that THE PEOPLE are capable of self government. — At the 
end of his second term, he too, like the father of his country, 
gladly withdrew to the bosom of philosophical retirement. 

Mr. Madison followed. This accomplished statesman had 
also long rendered himself a signal benefactor of the country 
that rewarded him with the highest distinction known among 
jnen — the chief magistracy of a free people. Our present hap- 
py form of national polity was mainly the work of his hands. 
It was he who nicely adjusted the parts, and first demonstrated 
the problem, that the sovereignty of individual stales could be 
maintained under an efficient general or federal government — 
having the power of peace and war, and only terrible against 
internal or external aggression. Again : when in the crisis of 
'93 — '99, the light of the revolution seemed almost extinct with 
our rulers, it was he who aroused the people by the masterly 
Report on the violations of the constitution, and thus powerfidly 
aided in bringing back the government to first principles, in 
1801. Finally, like Mr. Jefferson fwhen in the same depart- 
ment of statej he had often occasion to vindicate our country's 
rights against foreign insult and violence — an office, that both 
one and the other always performed with a spirit and an elo- 



THE PRESIDENCY. 5 

quence equally felt in Europe and America. These splendid di- 
plomatic papers fvvliicb, under similar circumstances, have re- 
ceived a worthy addition from the pen of our present chief ma- 
gistrate^ constituted, of themselves strong claims to the grati- 
tude of a Republic ever mindful of her interests and proud in 
the distinction of her sons. 

Mr. Monroe derives his first claim to a nation's love from 
that great source of all the public virtues — the war of the revo- 
lution. His devotion to country and freedom was, in the mighty 
struggle, sealed with his blood ; and we find his name in our 
subsequent history honourably connected with all the great 
measures which have consolidated our liberties and prosperity. 
But this last of the revolutionary school, is yet in the high trust 
to which he has been called by a unanimity almost peculiar to 
himself. 1 shall, therefore, leave the more particular enumera- 
tion of his probationary services to the period, wiien " descent 
from power, like death, shall have canonized his virtues." 

From this rapid sketch it will be clearly perceived, that each 
of our presidents has been selected by the people, as much from 
the recollection of past services, as with a view to the capacity of 
future usefulness ; and thus has the gratitude of the nation been 
rendered admirably harmonious with its own essential glory and 

interests. 

But the eyes fixed by enlightened precedent fmore powerful 
than laws written on tablesj has again brought round to us, the 
question — Who shall next succeed in that line of illustrious wor- 
thies ? — We are not — perhaps, fortunately for the country — 
without a concourse of candidates. Yet it would seem that all 
the active influence of Virginia, apparently, without much en- 
quiry or reflection, has been engaged in the cause of William 
H. Crawford. Difiering materially with that portion of my fel- 
low-citizens, I shall examine with freedom, but without personal 
hostility, his pretensions to the high honour that is sought for him. 

After the most diligent enquiry into Mr. Crawford's public 
history, the conviction has been forced upon me, that his acts 



6 THE PRESIDENCY. 

have been either negative, doubtful or censuruhle. If this con- 
clusion be deemed harsh, and there is no doubt it will be so con- 
sidered by his partisans, I bog that some one of them will take 
the trouble to show by facts wherein I have erred and to bring 
out the evidence of Wx?' positive merits. Both Mr. C. and the 
public may be benefmed by the discussion ; for 1 am far from 
believing that I am, at present, in a minority on this subject. 

The earliest record we have of Mr. C. represents him as ofi'er- 
ing homage to Mr. Adams in professions o^ the most unlimited 
confidence in his measures — at the very moment when the three 
last presidents, and the whole republican party, justly alarmed 
for the safety of our institutions, stood forth in open array 
against that administration. This fact was, at first, discredited 
by the friends of Mr. C. certainly with his connivance, if not at 
his suggestion. Further proof however was soon adduced, and 
then the charge was admitted and palliated : — Finally, it has 
been attempted to obliterate the recorded evidence, in the case, 
by the recollections of certain persons who testify that he was, 
about that time, a republican ! Dr. Abbott represents him, in the 
following year ("99J as "not simply a republican, opposed to 
the administration of Mr. Adams; but denominated by the sup- 
porters of that administration — a jacobin." This is not impro- 
bable. Extremes ('as in an unfinished circle^ are always found 
to approximate. He therefore who commenced his political 
career, a flaming federalist, might very well, in the lapse of a 
year, become a violent jacobin. Such a character has no po- 
larity ; but the people want a president who is, in politics, what 
it seems Mr. C. was not in '98 or '99 — " simply a republican." 

The next eight or nine years of his public life, appear to have 
been employed in all the turbulence of party contention aggra- 
vated by local and personal topics. Two of these wrangles 
terminated in duels, with the loss of a life. But having at 
length crushed his personal opponents, we find him, in 1807, a 
member of the U. States' Senate. From this period his history 
has been more under the observation of the Union. Let us see 



THE PRESIDENCY. 7 

what claims he has since established to a paramount place In the 
esteem and gratitude of his country. 

In the Senate, Mr. Crawford voted to re-charter the old bank 
of the U. States (a measure which Virginia instructed her Sen- 
ators to opposej and took that occasion to intimate, that the 
individual states ought to be prohibited from incorporating 
banks — in order, I presume, to create an uncontrouled monied 
aristocracy in that mammoth institution. Mr, C. did not stop 
here. He attacked the instructions given to Messrs. Giles and 
Brent, and chose to display his filial piety to his native state, by 
attributing her opposition to the federal bank, not \.o principle, 
but sordid interest — Virginia, as he argued, holding a large 
portion of the stock in her own local institutions. As a com- 
ment on this statement [written from memory] will the Enquirer 
favour the public with an extract of the speech itself, together 
with Mr. Brent's indignant reply to the foul insinuation? We 
shall then, perhaps, more fully see the point of the anecdote 
lately given by a writer in the Enquirer ('Pendletonj of the con- 
versation between Mr. C. and (^as is believedj a distinguished 
T^irginia member of congress. 

In the session of 1811 — 12, Mr. C. charged Mr. Madison 
with being guilty of duplicity in the message that recommended 
the second war of our independence ; but when the declaration 
was sent up from the other house, Mr C. gave it no active sup- 
port — although there was a strong party in the Senate ('besides 
the federalists^ who wished to substitute letters of marque and 
reprisal. This faction ('in, and out of the Senatej consisted, 
principally, of Messrs. Gallatin, Giles, Smith, &ic. &,c. the parti- 
cular friends of Mr. Crawford ; and it is believed that he fully 
concurred with them in their preference of the paltry substitute : 
although he was finally compelled to vote for the war. It will, 
however, be remembered by those who served with him, at the 
time, that during the two war-sessions that he sat in the Senate 
fbefore his departure for FranceJ he made neither speech nor 
proposition in support of that great measure ;— on the contrary. 



8 THE PRESIDENCY. 

when the bill came up from the H. of R. for building a certain 
number of ships of war, Mr. C. spoke against the measure, and 
ridiculed the idea of engaging England on the ocean as the ex- 
treme of madness and folly. To the immortal glory of better 
counsels and the valor of our seamen, these predictions of a 
misgiving mind were early and completely falsified ! 

Mr. Crawford's mission to France is not marked by a single 
incident that can be treasured in the memory. He crossed the 
ocean and returned, and his correspondence during the interval 
was almost wholly limited to bills drawn for his pay. 

As Secretary of War, 1 recollect but one measure or proposi- 
tion of his, beyond the mere ordinary routine of the bureau — 
the recommendation of marriages between our white popula- 
tion and Indians on the frontiers, in lieu of the importation of 
foreigners ! 

Mr. Crawford has now been some seven years in the depart- 
ment of the Treasur3^ What scheme of finance has he devised 
in all that period ? His annual Reports will scarcely be appeal- 
ed to by his warmest partisans in answer to this question. These 
papers, though sometimes explained by one or more supplemen- 
tary reports, have not always been intelligible; and when un- 
derstood, have uniformly been ridiculed and decried, by every 
man in America at all acquainted with fiscal transactions. 
The Report of the last year is particularly remarkable for ano- 
ther character. After conjuring up an artificial deficit ('of some 
millions and a quarter of dollarsj for the year 1825, he rery 
ingeniously recommends, under the pretence of revenue, a per- 
manent increase of the Tariif to meet that temporary exigency — 
thereby expecting to conciliate the manufacturers, without 
alarming the other great interests of the community. This 
stratagem was well understood by more than one member of 
Congress, from Virginia, during the last session. 

Under the head of Treasury operations, 1 shall not dwell par- 
ticularly on the charge, made by the Governor of Georgia and 
othersj of Mr. C's participation with the creek agent, Mitchell, 



THE PRESIDENCY. f> 

In the illicit inlroductlon of slaves into the U. S., and his, Mr. 

C's, neglect to prosecute the said Mitel)ell on the report of tlie 

attorney general, as the Secretary of the Treasury was bound 

to do ; — nor on the unauthorized loans of nearly a million cf 

dollars to dilTerent banks known to be insolvent or unsafe — 

whereby the Treasury lias lost the money ; — nor on [he svppres' 

sed documents making a part of the correspondence relative to 

those lorins; — nor oii the employment of a U. S. Senator in an 

executive and lucrative service, against the spirit of the laws, 

and the independence of Congress: In these transactions Mr. 

Crawford has, doubtless, gained many partizans at the expense 

of the U, States ; but I shall conclude this negative revieir, by 

some other incontrovertible facts, highly illustrative of the ciia- 

racter I have attempted to pourtray. 

Some years ago the Houss of Representatives passed a reso- 
lution requiring the secretaries of the Treasury and War depart- 
ments to report, severally, on the question of internal iinprovo- 
ments. Mr. Calhoun promptly obeyed the call; but Mr. Craw- 
ford knowing that the subject was one on which the public mind 
was much divided, and that he could not write on it without dis- 
closing his own particular leaning, has not to this day obeyed 
the order of the people's representatives ! 

In the beginning of 1816, a plan was suddenly formed at 
Washington, on the part of the Burrites and Clintonians in 
Congress ffrom N. Yorkj aided by other interested and factious 
members, to put down Mr. Monroe in the impending caucus. 
This scheme was greatly favoured by a caucus vote of the legis- 
lature of N. York — requesting the delegation of that state, at 
Washington, to support any candidate for the Presidency 7iot a 
Virginian. The first diftlculty was to find a person who would 
lend himself to the faction. Mr. Tompkins honestly refused his 
name, and Mr. Crawford had not been previously thought of for 
the presidency by a single individual in the Union. He was 
nevertheless, in the emergency, selected as the opponent of the 
Virginian ; and, as was foreseen, state j)ride brought over to 
2 



10 THE PRESIDENCY. 

his support all, or the greater part, of the Georgians. A few 
weeks before tlie caucus, the plot was opened by Dr. Bibb who 
told the public (\n a letterj that " Mr. Crawford did not consi- 
der himself among those from whom the selection ought to be 
made" — Mr. C well knowing, that Mr. M. was the only repub- 
lican candidate within the view of the people. This modest 
reply, therefore, rather intimated that there ought to be an oppo- 
nent. Accordingly, on the following day, the Washington Gazette, 
the uniform orgnn of Mr. C. announced, that the editor was 
authorized to say, thnt, on application to Dr. Bibb, the latter 
dechired there was nothing in his published letter to take Mr. 
C. out of the field of selection, and that, if nominated and elec- 
ted, he would serve. No further public declaration was made 
by Mr. C. or any one in his name, either before or at the caucus ; 
but the most vigorous exertions were continued in his behalf and 
under his eye; for he was present, at Washington, as secretary 
of war. At the nomination, no one appearing on the part of 
Mr. C. to wilitdraw his name, he received the whole support of 
the factious, amounting to fifty-four votes. — The pamphlet pub- 
lished by this minority is a most extraordinary document. 
Their support of Mr. C. is expressly stated to be — opposition 
to" the Virginia dynasty," and " the Virginia school of policy;" 
and the pamphlet abounds in the gravest charges against Mr. 
Jeflerson and Mr. Madison, as well as against Mr. Monroe. 
On that occasion it seems that Mr. Crawford was willing to put 
himself at the head of that hostile feeling, and to deny his na- 
tive state. It remains to be seen whether the people of Virginia 
will not, at the polls, in 1824, return the compliment by forget- 
ting him. 

I have thus endeavoured to trace Mr. Crawford through the 
gradations of his public life. If the offices which he has held 
be numerous, so have been his opportunities to record his virtues 
and services in the hearts of freemen. But we have seen nolh- 
ittg in his history to fire either our love or admiration. Shall 
he then be admitted to the Presidency speciali gratia — as drones 



THE PRESIDENCY. H 

take learned degrees — merely because lie has gone through the 
forms of personal attendance ? This would be, indeed — to fol- 
low up the language borrowed from universities — to let him eat 
his way to the highest honour and at the nation's expense ! 

NYYTUE. 



FOR THE ENQUIRER. 

MR. CRAWFORD.— No. I. 

In the support that Mr. Crawford receives, there is an appa- 
rent mystery that well deserves the most serious attention of all 
candid men. It is known, that many ol the states are directly 
opposed to many other states, in the views of policy which will 
influence them in the choice of a president; yet, it seems to be Mr. 
Crawford's singular good fortune, to be urged in each particular 
^ate on precisely the grounds the most popular therein. Thus, 
in the purely agricultural portions of the Union, the people ard 
told, aside and apart, as it were, that he is for leaving labor, skill 
and capital to find their own employments — without legislative 
interference; while in the manufacturing districts, his partisans 
affirm in like manner, that they know him to be in favor of en- 
creasing the tarilT, with a view of fostering manufactures! Whence 
these contradictory impressions.'' I will not assert that both [or 
either] have been derived directly from Mr. Crawford; but, as 
his last annual report is the only public evidence we have of his? 
views on the subject; and as that strongly favoi's the manuiafc- 
turers, it behoves the agriculturists [if no( their opponents, also] 
to discard all private assurances, and to demand a public decla- 
i<ation on this great question. W^ithout such deflaration on6 
party or the other must be deceived, if Mr. C. be elected; for, in 
such a cause, if not with us, he is against us. 

On the question of internal improvements, eqtfal uncertainty, 
not to say, contradiction prevails respecting Mr. Crawford'^ 



12 THE PRESIDENCY. 

views. In N. York, N. Jersey, Ohio and Delaware, 1 uiiiier- 
staiui, lie is represented, by his coiifKlenlial friends, as willing lo 
sanction a system of roads ;iiid canals, lo he executed under the 
direction of the general government; and we all know, that 
among us, the opposite opinion is orally projjagated, with great 
ind'.islrv, by hi* partisans. Jn 1818 — 19, Mr, C. Iiad a direct 
opportunity of dispelling all doubt and contradiction under this 
head. The house of Representatives — 

^'Resolved, That the sec, of the treasury be instructed to pre- 
pare and report to this house at their next session, a plan for the 
application of such means as are within the power of Congress, 
to the purpose of opening and improving roads and making ca- 
nals; together with a statement of the undertakings of that nature, 
which as objects of public improvement, may require and deserve 
the aid of the government; and also, a statement of the works of the 
nature above mentioned, which have been commenced; the pro- 
gress which has been made in them; the means and prospect of 
their being completed; the public improvements carried on by 
the states or by companies or corporations which have been as- 
sociated for such purposes, to which it may he deemed expedient 
to subscribe or afford assistance ; the terms and conditions of sueh 
associations, and the state of their funds, and such information, 
as in the opinion of the Secretary shall be material in relation 
to the objects of this resolution." 

A similar instruction was, at the same time, addressed to the 
secretary of war. and complied with. Mr. Crawford, however, 
chose to maintain, before the public, the mystery habitual to him, 
since he fixed his attention on the presidency; and accordingly, 
took no notice, whatever, of the positive command of the House 
of Representatives. In the mean time, strange as it may appear, 
this contempt of the house has been used as an argument in his 
favor both by friends and enemies of internal improvements — 
each side maintaining, that he merely concealed his opinions, the 
better to aid or defeat the scheme, should he be elected pre- 
sident ! 



THE PRESIDENCY. 13 

Shall ihis Janus policy be allowed to succeed in a country, 
ihat, yet justly boasts of its political morality ? Or is it safe for 
freemen in tlie choice of a chief magistrate, to rely on anything 
short of public acts, or a public avowal of principles, on ques- 
tions of this magnitude ? 

In the commercial districts, and other exposed parts of our 
extensive frontiers, maritime and inland, Mr. Crawford is said 
to be the staunch friend of fortifications, the army and the navy ; 
whereas, in the faw radical districts [in the interior] he is repre- 
sented as the enemy of these establishments ; and the votes in 
congress of his confidential friends, Messrs. Cobb, Gilmer, Cocke, 
Cannon, Williams, Sic. are triumphantly cited, in proof of his 
radicalism. In this case, however, we have better evidence of 
his views, than the contradictory declarations of instructed 
friends — I allude to his sarcastic speech, in the senate, against 
Mr. Madison, on the bill for "fitting out all the frigates of the 
U. S." In opposing the bill, Mr. Crawford said : 

«' The president's message of the third instant, has been introduced by the 
chairman of the committee in support of this bill. Feeble must be the aid 
which this measure can derive from that source. This message in point of 
obscurity comes nearer my ideas of a Delphic oracle than any state paper 
that has come under my inspection. It is so cautiously expressed that 
every man puts what construction upon it he pleases. Is he for war? The 
message breathes nothing but destruction and bloodshed. Is he for peace ? 
The message is merely milk and water and wholly pacific. Is he for the bill be- 
fore you ? The message calls for its passage. Is he a friend to a large standing- 
army ? Why then, the message means 20,000 regular troops. Is he a friend 
to the militia? The message does not callfor regular troops — it means mili- 
tia. Thus, sir, this message means any thing or nothing, at the will of the 
commentator. If this message is oracular in its meaning, it was no less mi- 
raculous in its promulgation. The newspapers to the east of this stated that 
such a message would be delivered, and stated its contents, nearly one week 
before it reached the two houses of Congress. To account for this phenom- 
enon is neither within my power nor province." 

The gentleman from Virginia has reiterated the old maxim — that, « to be 
prepared for war, is the best method of preserving peace," and has declared 
that, he should vote for this bill upon that principle. This maxim has the 
authority of great names. It may be true, to a particular extent. If these 
preparations are of such a nature as to make ihp nation invulnerable, it is 



14 THE PRESIDENCY. 

true.'' [Mr. Crawfoid, then, is opposed to all preparation, that may fall 
§liort of absohue security ! Did he ever read of a nation, that had attained it ? 
And must not all preparations have a beginning ?] "But, Sir, when the prepa- 
ratio'is amount to the equipment of fwe frigates, and tlie nation, against 
whnm these preparations aie made, can launch a thousand vessels of war 
against us, who can seriously uige this maxim %s a justification of the mea- 
sure? \ncl in aiiother place he says : — 

"But admitting there is danger of war with England, of what service will 
these few additional friga- es be, against the thousand ships of war which that 
ua ion can put in commission? The honourable chairnian of the committee 
says, they will answer ihe two-fold purpose of defending our habours and of 
annoyirg the ei emy To this, it may be answer d tha*^, if they are kept in 
our ports for their defence, they cannot annoy the trade of the enemy. If 
they are sent out to prey upon the enemy, but few, if any of them will ever 
return to defend our ports.'" 

The reader will not fail to perceive in these extracts, the same 
spirit of sarcasm, that led Mr. Canning to contrast our " few fir- 
built frigates, with a bit of striped bunting at the mast head'* 
with the invincible oaken castles of England. How unlucky, that 
Hull, Decatur, Bainbridge. Jones, Stewart, Biddle, Warrington, 
Blakely, &ic. &c, should have rendered the predictions of those 
two great statesmen, of the two hemispheres, equally false and 
ridiculous ! 

Mr. Crawford, having, as we have seen, handled Mr. Madison 
very cavalierly ; next, by way of showing his superiority over all 
«f our greatest men, censures Mr, Jefierson, with as little cere- 
mony. Some one had said, in the debate, that the navy had 
been reduced by Mr. J. Mr. Crawford replied, with vehemence: 

"The Navy, which was created by a federal adminis* ration, was by that 
administration, reduced to what they called a peace establishment. In this 
situation it was found by the late | Mr. Jeffc son's] administration ; who, so 
fer from running into the extreme, stopped short in the salutary work of 
reform. ♦*♦* + ♦* The new administration [Mr. J's.] cautiously guard- 
ing against the charge of innovation, stopped short of their duty. They 
ought to have amputated this fungus of the body politic, and restored it to 
a sound and healthy state. This was not done, and the nation has conse- 
quently, spent about twelve millions upon it." 

Let us not, again be told, that Mr. Crawford is the friend of 
the Navy ; — and we may perceive, in thi^^ last extract, whence his 
friends in Congress, before named, derive their amputating sys- 



THE PRESIDENCY. 16 

tern in respect to all our means of national defence — navy, army, 
military academy and fortifications. Among fjolitirians of that 
size, all these institutions are, in the language of their leader, but 
so many fungi of the body politic, which ovght to be amputated; 
but, such were not the doctrines of tliose first rate statesmen, Mr. 
JeilVrson, Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, in whose wake we 
deliglit to follow. 

But this speech deserves to be considered, under other points 
of view. Among republicans, Mr. Crawford is gratuiously sup- 
posed to have been an early, warm, and steady advocate for an 
efficient redress, by war or restriction, of the wrongs received from 
G. Britain, between the years 1806 and 1812.— Yet, itis believ- 
ed, that this was his "single speech" on the causes of the war; 
and on enquiry, I am confident it will be found, he did not, once 
rise in the senate in support of that last resort of a suffering and 
insulted people — although, coerced by the ardour of his consti- 
tuents, he ultimately recorded his vote in favour of the war. Pre- 
vious to this, he had, with the federalists in a body, voted against 
the embargo, the favourite subslit.ute of Mr. Jefferson ; but, after 
its repeal, he proclaimed its efficiency, and gave it a preference 
over actual hostilities. Through the whole of this trying pericd, 
it would appear, that he was governed by the principle — Usat sub- 
mission was better than any substitute for war, and an}' substi- 
tute better than actual war, — The following quotations from the 
speech under review will justify this conclusion. 

"Ml-. Crawford said, before he entered on the discussion of the bill, he 
felt it his duty to declare, that in the observatioiis, he had maele upon the 
motion for postponement, he had not the most distant inler.tion of ii^.timaiiiig', 
that the g-entleman from Virginia" \ Mr. Gilesl " wished to involve the nation 
in a war, that he [Mr.G.] did nvit believe to be necessary for the pi*eserv»tion 
of the honour or the interests of the country. 

" Mr., C said, that he had, by his own reflections" [no doubt hurt that he 
had not been considted by Mr Madison j "been led to conjecture, that this 
additional iiavalforce was iniendcd to protect our commerce, in tune of peace, 
or to ')repaie the nation for a declaration of war, which we intended to issue, 
or expect o be issued ag-ainst us, by one or both of the great belligerent 
nations. The observations of the gentleman from V.rginia had confirmed 
him, that his conjectures were well founded." Mr. C. next spoke of the 



16 THE PRESIDENCY. 

expense of the proposed measure; the futility of a navy, even '• if the U. S. 
were to expend one hundred milKons of dollars, in vessels of war, and expend 
one fourth of that sum, annually" upon it; — then glancing at our foreign 
relations, he proceeded thus : — 

Mr. Crawford said, he was not convinced but, that it was fortunate for the 
nation, that we did not [declare war, in March 1809] altho' he thought and 
felt differently, upon the repeal of the embargo. He was opposed to its 
repeal, but for war when it was repealed. Whaf, sir, is our situation now, 
when compared with March, 1809 ? The embargo, although vilified and 
abandoned here, proved efficacious. — The arrangement of the 19th of April 
last was the offspring of the embargo. The abandonmen^^ of the embargo 
produced the disavowal of that arrangement The order of the S5ih April, 
1809, is still in force, and although it falls very short of ihe arrangement 
made at this place [by Erskine] yet it abandons the two most important and 
obnoxious principles of the orders of the 11th November laOr. — Tiie transit 
duty is given up, and the blockade of commercial Europe is restrained to 
Holland, France, and the kingdom of Italy. By this nioditication our trade 
to all the rest of the worldis unmolested by British orders in council. If the 
comparison between our present situation and that of March last can be 
fairly drawn, there can be no difficulty in deciding, that as we did not then 
declare war, we shall not do it, now " 

Here it is worthy of remark, that Mr. Crawford, on the sub- 
ject of national redress, was always behind or before, the presi- 
dent and the republican members of congress. When they pro- 
posed an embargo, he voted against it ; but after they abandoned 
it, he became an advocate of the measure. He was opposed to 
the war in the beginning of 1810 and then, for the first time, 
informs us, that he was in favor of that resort, the preceding 
March ! What he says of the golden commerce left to us, under 
the British order in council of the 26th April, 1809, is in exact 
accordance with the arguments of the federalists of that day, on 
the same subject. Yet in another part of the speech, Mr. Crawford 
contradicts himself and shows by the facts he cites, that we ought, 
at that moment, to have declared war, even if it bad been solely 
to vindicate our commercial rights. He is enquiring whether a 
declaration will come from the other side of the Atlantic, and this 
is his language : — 

"Has G. Britain any interest to subserve by war with the U. S.? Is the 
commerce of this country beneficial to her .' She enjoys aU of it which she 



THE PRESIDENCY. 17 

wishes. She gets, by purchase or capture al) which she wants from us. Tor 
the first she pays a moderate price, and for the last she pays nothing'. Hut 
what is of equal importance to her, we purchase her manufactures. In the 
enjoyment of all the benefits of our commerce, she restrains her adversary 
from all participation with her in those benefits." 

The last extract [ shall make from this celebrated speech con- 
tains l)is principal argument against a declaration of war on our 

part, and is as follows : 

" But, waiving; all the arguments against our declaring war which may be 
drawn from our past conduct; Mr. C. said, he would ask this honourable 
bod}', Avhether the present situation of the world does not most solemnly 
admonish tiiis nation to stand aloof, from the dreadful convulsions with 
which Europe, for years past, had been agitated to its centre ? Yes, sir, the 
character of the war, and the principles upon which it is conducted, admo- 
nish us, in the most solemn manner, to remain quiet until its stormy billows 
shall have subsided into a calm " 

What does Mr. Crawford mean by waiting till the "stormy 
billows" had subsided .^ Were we, under illegal blockades, the 
capture of our commerce, the impressment of our seamen, the 
diplomatic insults of Jackson and the murder of Pierce in our 
waters — and after oftering to England every opportunity of 
abandoning and atoning for these accumulated wrongs — were 
we still to groan under them, till England could finish the war 
in Europe and stand prepared to wield her undivided force 
against us.'' Americans! this was the magnanimous course re- 
commended to us, by Mr. Crawford, in common with all the 
federal orators and writers of that day. Happily for the justice, 
the honour and the glory of the Republic, the advice was reject- 
ed. At length we struck the haughty aggressors, and the blow 
has resounded through the universe. 

But, perhaps it will be said, that the state of Europe (so so- 
lemnly deprecated by Mr. C.) was, at the date of bis speech, so 
far as it bore on our relations with England, more unfavorable 
to us, than in March, 1809, and in June, 1812 — at the first of 
which periods he pretends he was in favour of war, and at the 
second, actually coerced to vote for the declaration. But, the 
very reverse was the fact, la March, 1809, it was known, in 
3 



IS THE PRESIDENCY. 

the U. States, that a fifth coalition had been formed between 
England and Austria, which terminated in the battle of Wagram, 
in July, and the disgraceful English expedition against Walche- 
ren, in September: — and in June, 1812, it was known, that 
another coalition had been formed between England and Rus- 
sia : — whereas, in the beginning of 1810, when Mr. Crawford 
was so much opposed to a redress of our wrongs, either by pre- 
paration, or actual hoslilities, the European war was confined, 
solely to the Peninsula, where England maintained her doubt- 
ful equality in the contest. On these points, then, Mr. Crawford 
stands convicted of a want of patriotism, or a want of judgment. 
Let his partisans determine the matter between them. 

In my next number I shall attempt an analysis of Mr. O's 
other celebrated speech, on the Bank of the U. States. 



For the Enquirer of August 15ih, 1823. 

MR. CRAWFORD— No. 2. 

It is not a little remarkable — considering the greatness of Mr. 
Crawford's pretensions, in contrast with the paucity of his pub- 
lic acts, and his extraordinary care, of late, to remain dark on 
all national questions; that the only speeches of his, extant, 
which possess the least character, or which can serve to eluci- 
date his real principles, appear to be almost wholly unknown to 
the great constituent body of the U. States. In Virginia, at 
least, it is a rare circumstance to meet with an individual, who 
has read either of those productions. How is this singular fact 
to be accounted for ? The Enquirer was the only paper that 
circulated generally among us in 1810 and 1811, and 1 cannot 
find that the Enquirer ever republished the two speeches. Its 
editor, it is to be presumed, was, at that trying period, too much 
occupied in embodying public sentiment in/cvowr of the war, 



THE PRESIDENCY. 19 

and against the renewal of the old U. S. Bank, to notice the 
opposite efl'orts of Mr. senator Crawford ; although the latter, 
in the second speech, as we shall see, travelled out of the debate 
to animadvert on, what he calls " the scurrilous abuse," the 
"jargon" and " the rantings of our democratic editors, in these 
large states" — evidently alluding to (among others) the editor 
of the Enquirer. 

Having despatched Mr. Crawford's speech against the navy 
and the war, which may be called, with justice — a speech, 
against Mr. Jefterson and Mr. Madison — I shall now review his 
remaining great effort in the national legislature: for, in 1807, 
he appears to have contented himself with giving a silent vote 
against the embargo, though opposed, on that great measure, to 
Mr. Jefferson and every republican in the two houses of con- 
gress. 

It will be remembered, that the old Bank of the U. S. was 
wholly independent of the government ; and that its capital was 
principally in the hands of our political opponents and of for- 
eigners. The present institutionj of the same name, though in 
its creation equally obnoxious to constitutional objections, is, on 
the other hand, highly national in its character. The president 
of the U. S. and the senate annually appoint one fifth of the 
whole number of directors; the nation holds a large portion of 
the capital, and the remainder is widely distributed among indi- 
vidual citizens. Not so, with the old bank — for the renewal of 
which, Mr. C, as a member of the committee to whom the sub- 
ject had been referred, came forward in the beginning of 1811. 

Mr. Crawford prefaced his analysis of the constitution, in 
reference to the question in debate, with this extraordinary de- 
claration — in which a m'lserAbh plagiarism is lost in the shock, 
produced by the sentiment, 

" It has become so extremely fashionable to eulogise this constitution, 
whether the object of the eulog-ist is the e3ttension or contraction of the 
powers of the government, that, whenever its eulogium is pronounced I 



20 THE PRESIDENCY. 

feel nil invohinlr.vy iipprehension of miscliief. [I]******** This analysis may 
excite unpleasant sen.iations ; it may assail honest prejudices [Sec] ****. In 
the present case, if there be any, who, under the conviction, tliat the 
constitution is perfect, aie disposed to g'ivc it a construction, that will ren- 
der it wholly imbecile [i. e.hostHe to the bank] the public welfare requires, 
that the veil should be rent, and tliat its imperfections should be disclosed 
to the public view." 

The rule of construction maintained by Mr. Mailison, Judge 
Roane, and others, is next cited and combatted : 

« But, it is said, that the enumeration of certain powers excludes all other 
powers not enumerated This is true, so far as original substantive grants 
of power are concerned ; but it is not true when applied to express grants 
of power, which are strictly incidental to some original and substantive 
grant of power." 

Mr. C. having (to quote the words of Milton) through this 
palpable obscure, found out his uncouth way, lights, again on high 

federal ground : 

« When we come to examine the 4th art., the absurdity of this rule of 
construction, and, also of the idea of perfection attribtited to the constitu- 
tion, will be equally manifest." 

The orator, in search of authority to sanction his vote, 
enlarges, much, on the doctrine of implication. Having found, 
that, under the clause vesting the judicial power " in* one su- 
preme court, and such inferior courts" as might be established, 
congress had actually created a supreme court j and that under 
the powers "to regulate commerce" and "to collect imposts," 
light houses had been, actually erected and supported — although 
the constitution had not said in so many words — congress shall 
establish a supreme court, and shall erect and support light 
houses — Mr. C. imagines, that he has discovered a defect ia 
the constitution, and in the practice under it, through which, he 
may let in the bank, and, also, I doubt not, re-enact the alien 
and sedition laws — measures, which once claimed his " most 
unlimited confidence." He forgets, that constitutionally, as 



(1) When Scotchmen smile, <«I feel an involuntary emotion to guard my- 
self against mischief "—/mhws to Ziord Mansfield. 



THE PRESIDENCY. 21 

well as logically speaking, there can be no " inferior courts," 
without the co-existence of a superior or ^^ supreme court ;" and, 
that light houses are " necessary and proper" — in short, indis- 
pensable to commerce. The implication, then, in these cases 
is not founded on convenience or vague notions of utility, but 
is direct and unavoidable. 

Mr. C, by the means stated, having obtained his "power," let 

us see how he adapts it to the bill under debate: 

" The right to erect light houses is exercised, because the commerce of 
the nation, or the collection of duties, is greatly facilitated by that means ; 
and. Sir, the right to create a bank is exercised, because the collection of 
your revenue and the safe keeping, and easy and speedy ti'ansmission of 
your public money is not simply facilitated, but because these important 
objects are more perfectly secured by the erection of a bank, than they 
can be, bv any other means in the power of human imagination to devise. 
We say, therefore, in the words of the constitution, that a bank is necessary 
and proper to enable the government to carry into complete effect the 
right to lay and collect taxes, imposts, duties, and excises. We do not say, 
that the existence of the government absolutely depends upon the opera- 
tions of a bank, but that a national bank enables the government to manage 
its fiscal concerns more advantageously, than it could by any other means." 
The admission in the last clause of the last sentence, quoted, 
brings the argument back to the point— that a bank is a mere 
facility to the fiscal operations of the nation — a great conve- 
niency to the treasury department j but, as a mean, incidental 
to some expressly delegated power, under the constitution, such 
recommendations do not satisfy the construction, uniformly put 
on the words " necessary and proper," by the great republican 
statesmen and constitutional lawyers, whose opinions are autho- 
rity among us. Mr. Crawford, however, also cites authority in 
favour of the bank. He tells us that — 

"The secretary of the treasury [Mr. Gallatin,] has informed [the Senate] 
that he conceives it necessary to the legitimate exercise of the powers ves- 
ted in the government. I know, sir, that the testimony of this officer will 
not be very highly estimated by several honorable members of this body. 
I am aware, that this opinion has subjected him, and the committee, also to 
the most invidious aspersions : but, sir, the situation of that officer, inde- 
pendent of his immense talents, enable him to form a more correct opinion 



22 THE PRESIDENCY. 

than any other man in the nation, of the degree of necessity, which exists, 
at the present time, for a national bank to enable the government to man- 
age its fiscal operations." 

It will be recollected, that this is the same Mr. Gallatin, who 
escaped from the treasury and the country soon after the com- 
mencement of the war, without having devised the fiscal ways 
and means of prosecuting that measure. 1 hear, that he has 
recently returned to the U. States; and as he was understood 
to have concurred with his friend, on the war question, also, it 
is presumed the ex-secretary of the treasury, with his immense 
talents, knows better than any other man in the nation, that, the 
present incumbent, (next to myself) is the necessary and proper 
person to succeed to the presidency. 

" If, however, it is still believed, that the law, by which this bank has 
been created was the result of a forced construction of the constitution, 
yet I must contend that, that construction is entitled to some weight in the 
discussion of the question. «***+♦♦**_ xhis law passed in the best days of 
this republic. At that time, the idea of party, as now understood, was 
wholly unknown The parties, which then existed were, literally federal 
and anti-federal. Those who were friendly to the fedeial constitution, and 
those who were inimical to it, formed the only parties, then known, in this 
nation." 

Now, in looking over the ayes and noes, in the H. of R. in 
1791, on this bank question, I find the names of the following 
distinguished republicans, who voted against the bill in all its 
stages. Abram Bald win, and James Jackson of Geo. : Thomas 
T. Tucker and Edanus Burke of S. C. ; John Baptiste Ashe 
and Hugh Williamson, of N. C and of Virginia — Wm. B. 
Giles, Andrew Moore, Josiah Parker and James Madison — the 
illustrious pensman of the constitution, who, with the minority 
of twenty conspicuous republicans are represented by Mr. 
Crawford, as constituting a party inimical to the constitution! 
It has been said, that Mr. C. passed from his political child- 
hood — ("men are but children, of a large-growth") — into the 
republican school of Abram Baldwin and James Jackson ; but, 
it would appear, from the speech before us, that even their pa- 
tronage and example were insufficient to disabuse him of the 



THE PRESIDENCY. 23 

principles he had previously taught, (at the age of 33,) in his 
Augu>ia address. 

But this speech so thoroughly abounds in political heresies^ 
that it is impossible duly to notice them, unless its whole con- 
tents were extracted. This, an essay writer cannot do. He is 
obliged, (in the language of Addison) to "practice the chemical 
method, and give the virtue of a full draught in a few drops." 
I shall, therefore, briefly notice some of tlie more prominent 
points, not yet louclied, and leave it to the friends of the orator, 
if they deem it prudent, to republish the speech entire. 

Mr. Crawford's views of sovereignty. 

" The eniire sovereignty of this nation is vested in the state-govern- 
ments and in the federal g-overnment — except that part of it which is 
retained, by the people, which is solely the right of electing their public 
f iiictiunaries." 

This is a pretty direct denial of another right of the people, 
set forth, in the declaration of independence — the right " to alter 
or abolish" the government itself and to institute new govern- 
ment." The extract supposes the great mass of political sove- 
reignty to be in the servants of the people, and only a small 
residuum or complement to be with the masters, the people them- 
selves ! Again, having, as he conceives, shown, that the local 
banks owe their existence to the '' usurped authority^^ of the 
states, and that their notes are " bills of credit," Mr. Crawford 
fixes upon us this syllogism : — 

"The i-ight to create a corporation is a right, inherent in every sove- 
reignty ; the people of the United States cannot exercise this right. If, 
tlien, the states are restrained from creating a bank, with authority to emit 
bills of credit, it appears to be established, that the federal government 
does possess the ri^ht ! .'" 

His hostility to state rights ; right of instruction, «^c. 

« Wliat kind of resistance can they [the states] make, that is constitu- 
tional ? I know of but one kind ; and that is by elections. The people and 
the states have a right to change the members of the national legislature, 
and in that way, and in tliat alone, can they effect a change of the mea- 
sures of this government." 

Virginia, according to this doctrine, was guilty of usurpa- 



24 THE PRESIDENCY. 

tidn, in passing her celebrated resolutions, iu '93, and no less 
criminal, in adopting the masterly report of Mr. Madison, the 
following year ! These measures appear to be still more poin- 
tedly alluded to in the following extract; Mr. C. is deprecating 
the idea of depositing the U. States' money in state banks : 

«' Is it desirable to increase the influence of these great stales, which is, 
ah-eady too great, at the expense ot the U. States ? Does not t!,e history 
of these great states admonish us, in the most impressive terms, to beware 
of placing this government in a state of dependence upon them ? Sir, the 
time has been, and will certainly arrive again, when some one oi' thrsc great 
states will be found in a state ot hostility to the general government." 
Again. " What are the circumstances under which we are called upon to 
reject this bill ? The great influential states, induced, by motives of avarice 
and ambition, interpose the weight of their authority ; attempt to put a 
veto upon your right to pass such laws as are necessary and proper for the 
general welfare, through the instrumentahty of instructions, by depriving' 
not only their senators and representatives of a sound and honest discre- 
tion, but also, by intimidating others, by the weight of their influence and 
authority." And in another place.—*' Had these great states, who have 
undertaken, by their instructions to influence the decision of this question, 
by congress, contented themselves with this right to establish banks, I should 
not, upon this occasion, enter into an investigation of that right. But these 
great states, not content with the exercise of an usurped avithority, are by 
usurpation, attempting to legislate for Congress. And, sir, what is the 
inducement, with these great states to put down the bank of the U. S. ? 
Their avarice, combined with their love of domination. They have erected 
banks, in many of which they hold stock to a considerable amount, and 
they wish to compel the U. States to use their banks as places of depositfor 
their public money, by which they expect to increase their dividends And 
In the banks, in which they hold no stock, many of the individual members 
of their legislatures are stockholders, and, no doubt were influenced to 
give instructions by motives of sheer avarice. The iove of power, no 
doubt, had some influence in producing these instructions. Every person 
who is not wholly ignorant of the history of this government knows some- 
thing of the influence of these great states upon the councils of the nation." 

These great states, so often referred to, with emphasis, by Mr. 
C, and which had instructed their senators, &ic. were Virginia, 
(and it is believed) New York and Pennsylvania. All further 
comment would be superfluous ! 

His contempt of democratic papers, ^c. ^^c. 

« I have heard and seen, in the public prints [said Mr. Crawford] a great 
deal of unintelligible jargon, about the incidentality of a law, to the power 



THE PRESIDENCY. 25 

delegated and intended to be executed by it ; and of its relation to the end, 
which is to be accompUshed by its exercise, which I acknowledg-e Ido not 
clearly and distinctly comprehend, and must, therefore be excused from 
answering" * ♦ * ♦ The Democratic papers in these ^reat states [WrgmiSi, 
&c. &c.] have, for more than twelve months past, teemed with the most 
scurrilous abuse, against every member of congress, who has dared to utter a 
syllable in favour of the renewal of the bank charter. ♦ ♦ * ♦ Sir, I had, 
always thought, that a corporation was an artificial body, existing in con - 
templation of law ; but, if we are to believe the rantings of our Demo- 
cratic editors in these great states, and the denunciations of ourpablic 
dcclaimers, it exists under the form of every foul and hateful beast and bird 
and creeping rhing. It is a Hydra, it is a Cerbenis .- it is a Gorgon, it is a 
Vulture,- it is a Viper. Yes, sir ; in their imaginations, it not only assumes 
every hideous and fiightfulfotm, but it possesses every deleterious and des- 
tructive quality. Shall we, sir, suffer our imaginations to be alarmed and 
our judgments to be influenced, by such miserable stuff ? Shall we tamely 
att under the lash of this tyranny of the press ?" 

Now, 1 put it to the present senior (formerly sole) Editor of 
the Enquirer — Whether Mr. Crawford has not, in the preced- 
ing extracts, caricatured and "vilified" many of the leading 
articles in the Enquirer of that period — some of them editorial, 
and others communicated by several of the first pens among us.'' 
1 appeal to all Virginians to say, whether the speech is not an 
outrage on the states, and in direct hostility to the principles, 
consecrated in the Declaration of Independence and the Report 
of '99 ? In fine, can Mr. Crawford, with any decent respect to 
his own public acts and declarations — in 1798, 1807, 1810 and 
1811 — be, at this day considered a republican .'' 

HOaKOKE. 



4 



2G THE PRESIDENCY. 



For the Enquirer of November 21s^, 1823. 
JOHN C. CALHOUN— No. 1. 

We hate some persons because we do not hioiv them, and xoe will 
not know them because we hale them. — Lacon. 

Now 1 do not mean to say that the feeling entertained for Mr, 
Calhoun in Virginia by his particular opponents — amounts to 
hatred ; or that he is not known and admired by many of our 
distinguished citizens; but I will assert that very unjustifiable 
means have been resorted to among us to excite a distrust of 
his political views, and to depreciate his great talents and ser- 
vices. For these purposes an erratic statesman — sometimes 
distinguished by the effulgence, and sometimes by the " disas- 
trous twilight" of his genius, very early led the way by denoun- 
cing him in a public address, as " the army candidate," and the 
partisans of Mr. Crawford lose no opportunity to scatter the 
suspicion, that his plans of administration would be too splen- 
did for a republic ! By these and similar misrepresentations it 
cannot be denied, that many honest and even intelligent citizens 
among us, have conceived a dislike to Mr. Calhoun almost 
wholly unknown to the other states — a dislike which perhaps, it 
would now be impossible for any power of evidence or elo- 
quence to overcome. Leaving then his opponents in the quiet 
possession of their prejudices, 1 beg leave to address myself to 
the unbiassed mass of our population — with whom the admira- 
tion of genius combined with virtue and illustrated by splendid 
public services, is yet and I trust will ever remain, a distinguish- 
ing characteristic. 

John C. Calhoun was born in January 1782, in Pendleton, 
South Carolina — of Pennsylvania parents ; and found himself, 
in point of fortune, in that state of happy mediocrity which has 
ever proved itself the most favourable to moral and intellectual 
excellence. Being, by his worthy father, designed for the bar, 



THE PRESIDENCY. 2? 

he wa? early initiated in classical literature under a "celebrated 
scholar," in whose school several other conspicuous public men 
were educated about the same period. In that school politics 
were frequently discussed — as every where else in those days of 
party heat (between '97 and 1802) ; and J confidently appeal to 
the contemporaries of J. C. C whether he did not there invaria- 
bly support republican principles and republican men against 
youth, age, and authority f — He was now transferred to Yale 
College, Connecticut. Here again he soon became distinguish- 
ed for classical attainments and a certain manly eloquence, that 
has since been so often displayed in the service of his country. 
A professor of Yale, having, at the end of a lecture on govern- 
ment or political philosophy, declared that it was yet doubtful 
whether a limited monarchy might not be more conducive to the 
happiness of these states than a republic, the suggestion called 
forth all the zeal and ability of J. C. C. in opposition j and so 
struck was the professor with this and other exhibitions of youth- 
ful powers, on the part of the Carolinian, that he more than once 
predicted, he would rise to the highest eminence in the country. 
For the truth of these facts, I have heard a member of Con- 
gress cite with confidence the names of several of Mr. Cal- 
houn's classmates now high in office. 

Perhaps these references to \\\e politics oi schools and col- 
leges may call down upon me the censures of the same mor- 
bid sensibility that was lately excited against an essayest in 
the Enquirer, for a similar allusion. I beg leave, therefore, to 
ustify the liberty I have taken. 

We are told by Anacharsis, that " all who have reflected 
on the art of governing men, acknowledge, that it is on institu- 
tions for the education of youth that depends the fate of em- 
pires;" and he lays down the principle — that education ; po- 
litical institutions and manners ought to be in strict harmony 
with each other. The immortal Plutarch, who had been the 
preceptor of Trajan, thus writes to the pupil on his eleva- 
tion to empire — " Should your future government prove 



28 THE PRESIDENCY. 

in any degree answerable to your former merit, I shall have 
reason to congratulate both your virtue and my own good 
fortune on this great event — But, if otherwise, you have ex- 
posed yourself to danger and me to obloquy. The faults 
of the scholar will be imputed to the master. — Seneca was 
reproached and his fame still suffers for the vices of Nero : the 
reputation ofQuintilian is hurl by the ill conduct of his scholars; 
and even Socrates is accused of negligence in the education of 
Alcibiades." In our times, the slight indications of magnanim- 
ity displayed in the earlier government of the Russian Autocrat 
have been attributed to his preceptor, the philosopher La Harpe, 
and to our own Wythe has been yielded the honor of forming 
Mr. Jefferson's principles on the republican models of Greece 
and Rome. If then praise be due to a preceptor for imparting 
right principles in government; would it not be a reciprocal 
duty to censure him for attempting to teach lohat is not in har- 
mony loith our institutions ? The proposition seems too clear 
for disputation. 

From Yale, Mr. Calhoun entered himself a student of the 
law-school of Judge Reeves at Litchfield, Connecticut. During 
his residence here, an incident occurred that may be appealed 
to as another proof of his early and decided republicanism. 
Seleck Osborne (the first native poet living) was, at that time, 
the editor of a democratic paper published at Litchfield. Hav- 
ing rendered himself by his politics highly obnoxious to the 
federal rulers of theland of steady habits, he was prosecuted and 
imprisoned for a libel on the state government. The law- 
student J C. C. warmly interested himself in behalf of Os- 
borne, and by his writings, speeches, and other exertions, 
was in no little danger of sharing the fate of the persecuted 
editor. This occurred about the fifth year of Mr. Jefferson's 
administration, who, soon after, gave Osborne a captaincy in 
the army. 

After an absence of five or six years, J. C. C. now returned 
to his native state, and entered on the practice of the law with 



THE PRESIDENCY. 29 

llie success usual to all his endeavours. But the national ex- 
citement against England daily increasing, with her increasing- 
arrogance and injustice, he was readily prevailed upon to be- 
come a member of the state legislature. Indeed, he seems, 
from the first, to have studied the law more as a subordinate 
branch of the science of government, than with a view to a 
long professional practice. Having by his legislative services 
al Columbia, laid the foundation of a popularity throughout 
the state, as permanent as that in his own immediate neighbor- 
hood, we next find Mr. Calhoun on a theatre suited to his 
great talents and information — a member of the Congress that 
declared war against Great Britain, 

Preceded b3' the fame he had already acquired, his appear- 
ance in the national legislature was hailed as tl'.e most im- 
portant acquisition to the republican ranks. Mr. Speaker 
Clay, without regard to seniority in years or services, placed 
him at once, the second member of the committee (foreign re- 
lations, at the time emphatically the first in the house; and of 
which committee he soon became the chairman. In this lead- 
ing position none but a statesman of the first order could have 
sustained himself. During a parliamentary contest of more 
than four years ; and against a weight and style of opposition 
unknown to the Congress of the revolution, Mr. Calhoun by 
his reports and speeches; by his genius, eloquence, firmness 
and patriotism, made himself the Jefferson and the Lee of the 
second war of our independence, and like those primitive patriots 
triumphed in tlje glory of his country. That this is not an 
extravagant encomium, I appeal to the feelings of the period, 
and to documents. The Enquirer of the 24th December ISll 

thus speaks — 

" \Ve present this day tlie speeches of Messrs. Randolph and Calhoun, 
the " counterfeit presentment" of two orators, but it is " Hyperion to a Sa- 
tyr." The one amuses us by excursiveness; the other delights us by the 
condensation of his ideas The one is an edition of Clinton "run mad;" 
the other resembles one of the old sages of the old Congress, with the 
graces of youth. Mr. llaudolph has surpassed himself in his ov/n line of 



30 THE PRESIDENCY. 

acting : the snarling and petulant critic, who raves and bites, at every thing 
around him ; oblique in his positions ; extravagant in his facts; flounder- 
ing and blundering in his conclusions. Mr. Calhoun is clear and precise in 
his reasoning ; marching up directly to the object of his attack, and felling 
down the errors of his opponent with the club of Hercules : not eloquent 
in his tropes and figures ; but, like Fox, in the moral elevation of his senti- 
ments; free from personality ; yet full of those fine touches of indignation, 
which are the severest cut to a man of feeling. His speech, like a fine 
drawing, abounds in those lights and shades, which setoff each other; the 
cause of his country is robed in light ; while her opponents are wrapped in 
darkness. It were a contracted wisli that Mr. Calhoun were a Virginian ; 
though after the quota which she has furnisiied, with opposiiion talents, 
such a wish might be forgiven us. Yet we beg leave to participate, as Ame- 
ricans and friends of our country, in the honours of South Carolina. We 
hail this young Carolinian, as one of the master spirits, who stamp their 
name upon the age in which they live." 

About the same time we find the following notice copied into 
the Enquirer. 

« The Hon. John C. Calhoun (says the correspondent of the Hartford 
Mercury) a representative from South Carolina, the gentleman second 
named on the committee of Foreign relations, graduated at Yale College, 
in this state, in the year 1804. In his high character as a scholar, his deci- 
ded republicanism, and the Herculean vigour of his understanding, Ameri- 
can liberty cannot fail to find a most powerful support." 

The speech so justly characterized and applauded by the 
Enquirer, and which called forth a general burst of admira- 
tion, was Mr. Calhoun's first essay in Congress, — at an age less 
than thirty. No one then thought him too young to take the 
lead in defence of our rights. That objection has been twelve 
years reserved — to the period, when the country is no longer 
labouring under the pressure of external and internal difficul- 
ties, and when, from the lapse of time, the obligations of pub- 
lic gratitude are supposed to be relaxed or forgotten. But to 
return to the occasion of the speech. 

The committee of Foreign Relations had reported in favour 
of immediate preparation for war, with the avowed object of 
an early declaration of hostilities. Mr. Randolph, the leader of 
what was termed the British party in the house, opposed the 
measures recommended by the committee; took a wide view of 



THE PRESIDENCY. 31 

our foreign relations, and deprecated war as unjust to England 
and calamitous to ourselves. To Mr. Calhoun was assigned 
the duty of replying to Mr. Randolph, and from the masterly 
style in which the task was executed — not to speak, in this 
place, of subsequent victories obtained qyev the same indivi- 
dual, on the same great questions, we may perceive whence the 
feeling that dictated the denunciation of Mr. C. by the odious 
appellation of " the army candidate." 

One remark more on the editorial article copied from the En- 
quirer. Virginia has already become an object of jealousy to 
her sister states, from the fact — that of the nine presidential 
terms since the adoption of the federal constitution, eight have 
been given to Virginians. If then we find Mr. Calhoun emi- 
nently worthy of that high office, ought we now to regret that 
he was not born among us f or rather should we not have the 
magnanimity, in the words of the Enquirer " to participate, as 
Americans and friends of our country, in the honors of South 
Carolina.'"' 

Among the energetic measures proposed in the session of 
1811, 12, for placing the nation in an attitude of defence, was 
a bill — to fit up, and put in commission, all the vessels of the 
navy, and to build a certain number of frigates. The latter 
provision received the ardent support of Mr. Calhoun, but was 
finally lost. On this occasion he had the honour to find him- 
self in a minority with those sagacious republicans — Messrs. 
Bassett, Cheves, Dawson, Hawes, Lowndes, H. Nelson, Plea- 
sants, Newton, Troup, he. he. Let it be here observed, that 
this vote was taken before the declaration of war, and of course, 
before the navy had fought itself into favour with politicians 
of less wisdom and foresight. The following session — after the 
captare of the Guerriere, Macedonian, &c. four ships of the 
line, and six additional frigates were ordered by a large majo- 
rity in each house of Congress, but even then, Mr. Crawford 
was not entirely cured of that hostility which led him, on a 
former occasion, to rebuke Mr. Jefferson, for not having am- 



32 THE PRESIDENCY. 

jjutated the navy as a fungus on the body politic — for he voted lo 
strike the sliips of the line from the bill ! 

We next find Mr. Calhoun (6th March 1812) supporting an 
embargo for 90 days as a measure preparatory to war. Here 
again it was his lot to reply to Mr. Randolph. Mr. Calhoun 
said, in the course of his speech — 

" We will not, I hope, wait the expiration of the embargo to take our 
stand against England — that stand which the best interests and the honour 
ofthis nation have so loudly demanded. In his zeal against the embargo, 
the gentleman from Virginia says, it was engendered between the commit- 
tee ot foreign relations and the executive. Engendered ! The gentleman 
must be sensible of the impropriety of such language— applied to 'he exe- 
cutive, or a committee of this house. No, sir, it was not engendered, but 
adopted by both the executive and committee, from its manifest propriety 
as a prelude to war. There is no man in his reason and uninflue ced by 
party feelings, but must acknowledge that a declaration of war on our part, 
(right almost invariably to be preceded by an embargo. One might sup- 
pose from the language of the gentleman from Virginia, that he was much 
in the secrets of the government. He says the plan now is, to disband the 
army, and carry on a predatory war on the ocean. I can assure him if such 
be the plari, I am wholly ignorant of it ; and that should it be proposed, it 
would not meet with my approbation. I am decisively of opinion that the 
best interests of the country will be consulted, by calling out the whole 
force of the community to protect its rights. Should this course fail, the 
next will be to submit to our enemy with as good a grace as possible Let 
us not provoke, where we cannot resist. The mongrel state, half war, half 
peace, is more to be dep- ecated. The gentleman from Virginia has told 
us much of the signs of the times. ^. did hope, that the age of superstition 
was past. Sir, if we must examine the auspices ; if we must inspect the 
entrails of the times, I would pronounce the omens good. Tt is from moral 
— not brute or physical omens, that we ought t'> judge : and what more 
favourable could we desire than that the nation is at last roused from its 
lethaigy, and stands prepared to vindicate its interest and honor ? On the 
contrary, a nation so sunk in avaice and so corrupted by faction, as to be 
insensible to the greatest injuries, and lost to its independence, would be a 
sight more portentous than comeis, earthquakes, eclipses, or the whole 
catalogue of omens which we have heard the gentleman from Virginia enu- 
merate. I assert and gentlemen know it — if we submit to the pretensions of 
England, now openly avowed, the independence of this nation is lost— we 
shall be, as to our commerce, at least re-colonized. This is the second strug- 
gle for our hberty ; a.idif we do but justice to ourselves, it will be no less 
.glorious and successful than the first. Let us but exert ourselves, and we 



THE PRESIDENCY. 33 

must meet with the prospering smile of Heaven. Sir, I assert it with onfi- 
(lence, a war just and necessary in its orig-in ; wisely and vigorously carried 
on, and honourably terminated, would establish the union and prosperity of 
our country for centuries." 

Tills speech may be regarded as a liistory, before the fact, of 
the mighty struggle in which we were about to embark. The 
youthful orator who "resembled one of the old sages of the 
old Congress" looked through the storm and gloom of war 
to the clear sunshine of glory which burst on his country at 
the conclusion. May the last letter of his prediction be equally 
accomplished ! 

In a previous reply 'to Mr. Randolph, Mr. Calhoun had 
said — 

" The gentleman from Virginia has not failed to touch on the calamities 
of war ; that fruitful source of declamation — by which, pity becomes the 
advocate of cowardice ; but I know not what we have to do with the sub- 
ject. If the gentleman desires to repress the gallant ardor of our country- 
men by such topics, let me inform him, that trae courage regards only the 
cause; and if confident, that that is just and necessary, despises the pain 
and danger of war. If he really wishes to promote the cause of humanity, 
let his eloquence be addressed to Lord Wellesley and Mr. Percival, and not 
to the American Congress. Tell iJiem, that if they persist in such daring 
insult and injury to a neutral nation, thab however inclined to peace, it will 
be bound in honour and interest to resist ; and that our patience and bene- 
volence, however great, will be exhausted; that tlie calamities of war will 
ensue, and that the British government in the opinion of wounded human, 
ity will be answerable for all its devastations and misery. Let melting pity, 
a regard to the interests of hnmasiity, stay the hand of injustice ; and my 
life on it, the gentleman will not find it difficult to call off his country from 
the bloody scenes of war. We are next told of the dangers of war ! I be- 
lieve we are all wiUing to acknowledge its hazards and accidents ; but I 
cannot think we have any extraordinary danger to contend with — at least, 
so much as to warrant an acquiescence in the injuries we have received. 
The balance of power has also been introduced as an argument for sub- 
mission. England is said to be a barrier against the military despotism in 
France. There i.s, Sir, one great error in our legislation. We are ready 
enough to protect the interests of the European states ; and it would 
seem, from this argument, to watch over those of a foreign nation, while 
we grossly neglect our own immediate concerns. This argument of the 
balance of power, is well calculated for the British parliament ; but not at 
all for the American Congress to entertain. Tell the Britons that they 

5 



34 THE PRESIDENCY. 

aie coiTi'jatli'.ifj with a mig-hly power in Kurope, and that, if they willper- 
sis to insult :i;ul Inj ire the American people, we shall be compelled to 
throw our wiiole force into the scale of their adversary. Let the gentle- 
man from Virg'inia piuirtray the danger to then<, and if they will desist 
iVotu iiiJMry, I will answer for it, that we shall not disturb the balance of 
power. Bat it is preposterous to talk of the balance of power, while they, 
by their conduct, deride our simple, g'ood-natured, pacific and foi'bearing 
pnlicj'. If however, in the contest, it should be found, that they underrate 
our strength, which I hope and beheve events will demonstrate, and we 
can, in fact, influence the balance of power, then it will not be difficult 
for us to obtain such terms as our rights demand." 

Let these speeches, conceived in the spirit of wounded pa- 
triotism, and as remarkable for wisdom as eloquence, be com- 
pared with Mr. Crawford's maturer efibrt in the Senate, some 
little time before. We shall then again behold the " counterfeit 
presentiment" of two orators — " Hyperion to a Satyr." The 
questions discussed by them were essentially the same — inju- 
ries received from England, and preparation for redress. 

Mr. Crawford in 1810, thus exhorted the Senate to further 
orbearance and submission — 

" But waving all the arguments against our declaring war which may be 
drawn from our past conduct; he woidd ask this honorable body, whether 
the present situation of the world does not most solemnly admonish this 
nation to stand aloof from the dreadful convulsions with which Europe, for 
years past, had been agitated to its centre ? Yes, Sir, the character of the 
war, and the principles upsn which it is conducted, admonish us, in the 
most solemn manner, to remain quiet until its stormy billows shall have sub- 
sided into a calm." 

And such also was the language held by the principal fede- 
ralists in 1812. Mr. Sheffey in opposing the war measures, 
almost quoted the words of Mr. Crawford — "It becomes us, 
Mr. Speaker (said Mr. S.) to remain in our present situation ; 
to let the present state of the world pass away. Until the 
great waters subside: until theantient landmarks re-appear, and 
the flood shall have gone. Desert not, I pray you, this your 
ark of safety. Embark not, sir, on the tempestuous ocean 
whilst its billows are running mountain high. If you do, 1 fear 



THE PRESIDENCY. 35 

you will sink to the bottom." — Does not tlie reader perceive — 
that to rescue the nation iVom sucli sentiments, and to take it 
out of the degradation to which it had been sunk bj the ele- 
venth Coiigress — a master spirit ivas wanting to stamp his name 
on the age ?■ Tiie twelfih Congress met, and behold the man ! 

Throughout the memorable session of '11 '12, we find Mr. 
Callioun actively employed in giving tone to the house, and in 
prosecuting measures of preparation and of war. The army- 
bills were reported by the committee on foreign relations — 
many of them drawn with his own hand. Among others, I find, 
by the journal of the house, there was one for creating a cow- 
missariat (in lieu of the contract system) for subsisting militia, 
volunteers and regulars. This however, was not then adopted : 
(it has since been introduced on his recommendation as Secre- 
tary at War). Had a commissariat been established at the 
commencement of hostilities ; and if the opinions of expe- 
rienced officers can be relied upon — millions of mone^ — and 
what was of greater importance, thousands of valuable lives, 
lost by the frauds and failures of contractors, would have been 
saved to the nation. But the conclusions of some minds, even 
in Congress, as we have seen illustrated, on the vote to increase 
the navy, will always be found to lag slowly behind the intelli- 
gence and experience of the age. 

At length the important moment arrived when we were again 
to take a stand among the independent nations of the earth — by 
throwing off the shackles with which our antient enemy had 

sought to bind and crush us. 

" Mr. Calhoun, from the committee of foreign relations, »o whom was re- 
ferred the message of the first instant, made a report — Stating at large, the 
causes of war with Great Britain ;" and immediately after "on leave given^ 
presented a bill declaring war between Great Britain and her dependen" 
cies, and the United States and their territories." 

The Report drawn by Mr. Calhoun, is conceived in a spirit 
and expressed in an eloquence which unquestionably renders it, 
the second document in the annals of our independence ; and 



36 THE PRESIDENCY. 

when the personal jealousies of the present day shall have given 
place to the generous efTusions of patriotic feeling, the declara- 
tion of our wrongs and rights of 1812, accompanied by an ap- 
peal to ARMS, cannot fail to be placed with one consent next to 
the immortal ACT which first called us into national being. 
The illustrious Jefferson having attained an age beyond the 
usual lot of man, but now enjoys the felicity of beliolding his 
first great work stamped with the universal approbation of his 
countrymen. Shall public gratitude be always equally slow in 
expressing itself.'' I ask not for John C. Calhoun (he honours 
of Jefferson, full of years and full of glory ; but I ask for him 
that support from the republicans of the union, that was accor- 
ded to his illustrious prototype in 1796 and 1800. — It is to be 
regretted that the report of 1812, has not been more frequently 
reprinted. 1 shall close this number with its concluding para- 
graph — 

" Your committee believe, that the freeborn sons of America are worthy 
to enjoy the liberty which their fathers purchased, at the price of much 
blood and treasure ; and seeing' inthe measures adopted by Great Britain, 
a course commenced and persisted in which might lead to a loss of national 
character and independence, feel no hesitation in advising resistance by 
force — in which ihe Americans of the present day will prove to the enemy 
and the world, that we have not only inherited that liberty which our fa- 
thers gave us; but also the will and power to maintain it. Relying on the 
patriotism of the nation ; and confidently trusting that the Lord of Hosts 
will go with us to battle in a righteous cause, and crown our efforts with 
success — Your committee recommend an immediate appeal to ARMS." 

TUOMSOK, 



THE PRESIDENCY. 37 



Por the Enquirej- of November 25, 1823. 

JOHN C. CALHOUN— No. 2. 

The only things in which we can be said to have any property^ art 
our actions. These are the title deeds of which we cannot be 
disinherited. Lac on. 

In oflTeviiig to my fellow-citizens a view of the political acts and senti- 
tnents of Mr. Calhoun, I have chosen to introduce, in the way of quotation, 
the living statesman speaking' in his own person; and where, in a few instan- 
ces, that was not practicable, it will be seen that my statements are suppor- 
ted by other direct proofs, or by references to persons able, and (many of 
them) willing- enough to contradict me — if they may do so with impunity. 
There can be no deception practised on the public by this method. The 
opposite course presented all ihe advantages of ease and simplicity of exe- 
cution. A writer, unincumbered with proofs and illustrations, has only to 
draw en his imagination. He may throw himself out in a torrent of words; 
deck his favourite with every shining attribute of the hero and the states- 
man; the orator and negociator ;* and by the boldness, multiplicity and I may 
add, rapidity of his asseriioiis — distance every attempt at refutation. This 
species of jockeying; so far as my observations extend, has been practised by 
the supporters of only one of the presidential candidates, and certainly by 
none with greater license than the avithor of the " Four Letters;" — although 
the Enquirer in recommending these productions to its readers, a.s"the 7)e.i( 
which the presidential election has called fortlC has rather strangely (if the un- 
initiated may be permitted to judge) added — " ahvays excepting the Politi- 
cal Horse Race!" 

Leaving for the present the treasury -fed steed in the hands of "his grooms 
and rders," I return to the main proposition I have undertaken to establish 
— that Mr. Calhoun by his reports and speeches rendered himself in the se- 
cond War of our Independence, what our Jefferson and Lee had been in 
the first. 



* Witness the author of the " Four Letters'" who, in reference to Jackson, Cal- 
houn, Clay and Adams, unblushiugly demands, in favor of Mr. Cra~,iiford — 
" xohich of their places is it that he could not fill? And which of them could f II his 
place ? WMch of them can shew an evidence of talents that he is not instantly able 
and ready to match P' — I^isum teneatis amici ? 



38 THE PRESIDENCY. 

My last number left him in the act of presenting- to Congress tlie declara- 
tion of hostilities. Notwithslanding the large majority by which the mea- 
sure was carried, it was soon discovered that many members who had voted 
in the affirmative, began to waver in their purposes, and to show a disposi- 
tion rather to rely on the old peace measures for redress than the ultima ruiio 
of injured nations. On a motion to repeal the nonimportation act, Mr. Cal- 
houn came forward to rally the House and distinctly prochiimcd — that since 
the sword of war had been drawn, there xvas no sofeti,! but in, throioiug axvai/ the 
scabbard. — This speech wliich reviewed the policy of tlie whole restrictive 
.system cannot be read by an American, even at this hite period, without 
feehng's of the liveliest interest — I shall make several e.\tracts from^it. 

**The 7'estrictive system, as a mode of resistance or as a means of obtaining 
redress (said Mr. C.) has never been a favorite one wilh me. I wish not to 
censure the motives whicli dictated it, or attribute weakness to tliosc who 
first resorted to it for a restoration of ourrights. Thoiigli T do not tlunk t!u 
embargo (of 1807) was a wise measure, yet I am far from tliinking it was a 
pusillanimous one. But, sir, I object to the restrictive .system — because it 
does not suit the genius of the people, or that of your government, or the 
geographical character of our country. We are a people essentially active. 
I may say we are pre-eminently so. No passive system can suit such a peo- 
ple — in action, superior to all others; in patient endurance, inferior to many. 
Nor does it suit the genius of our government. Our government is founded 
on freedom, and hates coercion. To make the restrictive system effectual, 
Requires the most arbitrary laws. England with the severest penal statutes 
has not been able to exclude prohibited articles; and Napoleon, with all 
his power and vigilance, wasobhgedto resort to the most barbarous laws to 
enfoi'ce his continental system. Burning has furnislied him the most effec- 
tual remedy. Besides, there are other strong objections to the system. It 
renders government odious. The farmer enquires why he gets no more for 
his produce ; and he is told it is owing to the embargo or to comn:\ercial res- 
trictions. In this he sees only the hand of his own government — not the acts 
of violence and injustice which the system is intended to counteract. His 
censures fall on the government. To its measures he attributes the cause 
of his embarrassment, and in their removal expects relief Tliis is an un- 
happy state of the public mind; and even, I might say, in a government rest- 
ing essentially on public opinion — a dangerous one. In war, it is different. 
The privation, it is true, may be equal or greater; but the public mind, under 
the strong impulses of that state of things, becomes steeled against suffer- 
ings. The difference is almost infinite between the passive and active state 
of the mind. Tie down a hero, and he feels the puncture of a pin; — throw 
him into battle and he is almost insensible to> vital gashes. So in war. Im- 
pelled alternately by hope and fear; stimulated with revenge — depressed 
with shame, or elevated by victory — the people become invincible. No 



THE PRESIDENCY. 39 

privation can shake their fortitude — no calamity break their spirit. Even 
v.hen equally successful — tiie contrast between the two systems is striking". 
AV'ar uiitl restriction may leave the country equally exhausted; but the latter 
not only leaves you poor, but even, when successful — dispirited, divided, 
discontented — with diminished patriotism, and the morals of a considerable 
portion of jour people corrupted. Not so in war. In that state tlie com- 
mon danger unites all — strengthens the bonds of society and feeds the 
flame of patriotism. The national charactermounts to energy. In exchange 
for the expenses and privations of war, you obtain military and naval skill, 
and a more pei-fect organization of such parts of j'^our administration as are 
connected witii the science of national defence. — Sir, are these advantages 
to be counted as trifles in the present state of the world ? Can they be mea- 
sured by a monifed valuation? — But it may be asked, why not unite war and 
restriction; and thus call our whole energies into action? It is true, there is 
nothing impossible in such a union; but it is equally true, what is gained to 
the latter, is lost to the former; and sir, the reverse is also true — that what is 
lost to restriction is gained to the war. My objections to restrictions without 
war, equaly hold against them in conjunction with it. Sir, I would prefer a 
single victory over the enemy by sea or land, to all the good we shall eVer 
derive from the continuation of the noii-importation act. I know not that a 
victory would produce an equal pressure on the enemy ; but I am certain of 
what is of greater consequence — it would be accompanied with more salu- 
tary eflfects on ourselves. 

"The memory of Saratoga, Princeton, and Eutaw is immortal. It is there you 
will find the country's boast and pride; the inexhaustible source of great and 
heroic sentiments. But what will history say of restriction ? What exam- 
ples worthy of imitation will it furnish posterity? What pride — what plea- 
sure, will our children find in the events of such times ? Let me not be con- 
sidered romantic. This nation ought to be taught to rely on its own cour- 
age, its fortitude, its skill and virtue for protection. These are the only safe 
guards in the hour of danger. Man was endued with these great qualities 
for his defence. There is nothing about him that indicates that he is to con- 
quer by endurance. He is not encrusted in a shell, he is not taught to re- 
ly on his insensibility — his passive suffering for defence. No, sir; it is on the 
invincible mind — on a magnanimous nature that he ought to rely. Here is 
the superiority of our kind; it is these that render man the lord of the world. 
It is the destiny of his condition that nations rise above nations, as they are en- 
dued in a greater degree with these brilliant qualities. 

« Sir (continued Mr. Calhoun) it is often repeated, that if the non-impor- 
tation actLe continued, we shall have a speedy peace. 1 believe it not. It 
will debilitate the springs of war. It is for this reason, in part, that I wish 
it repealed. It is the fountain of fallacious expectations. I have frequently 
heard, sir, with no small mortification — from some of those who have sup- 



40 THE PRESIDENCY. 

ported the war — that it is only by restriction that we can seriously afl'ect our 
enemy. Why then have we declared war ? Is it to be considered but an 
appeiidace to the non-importation act ? If so, I disclaim it. It is an alarming 
idea to be in a state of war, and not to rely on our courage and energ-y, but 
on a measure of peace. If the non-importation act be our chief reliance, 
it will soon direct our councils. Let us strike away this false hope— let us 
call out the resources of the nation for its protection. England will soon 
find that seven millions of freemen, with every material of war in abundance, 
are not to be despised with impunity. 1 would be full of hope, if I saw our 
sole reliance on the vigor of the war; but if we are to paralize it; if we are 
to trust in the moment of danger, to the operation of a system of peace, I 
greatly fear. If such is to be our course, I see not that we have bettered 
our condition. We have had a peace like a war : in the name of Heaven, 
let us not have the only thing that is worse — a war hke a peace." 

Let us contrast this patriotic and statesman-like speech with the senti- 
ments antl conduct of Mr Crawford on the same great questions. 

In 1803 Congress resolved — that under the injuries the U. States had sus- 
tained, there were left to us but three alternatives : " War, embargo or sub- 
mission." We have seen (in the preceding number) Mr. Crawford's pathe- 
tic appeal to the fears of the senate, in ISlO, against war; and it may be 
added that the then state of Europe, within itself, was mure favorable to re- 
dress against England than in 1812— and further, that our relations with Eng- 
land were essentially the same at the two periods. If therefore, Mr Craw, 
ford had been consistent with himself, he would have opposed the war iu 
1812, as in 1810 — or he would have supported that alternative on both occa- 
sions But he spoke against both preparation and war, in 1810 ; and in 1807, 
he recorded his vote with every federalist, and ag-ainst every republican, in 
the Senate, in opposion to Mr. Jefferson's embargo. It would therefore, 
conclusively appear, that Mr. Crawford, down to a very late period, at least, 
was in favor of " submission" — the remaining' alternative according to the 
solemn declai'ation of Congress ! 

But the National IntelUgencer which makes and unmakes principles to 
suit the rising, not the setting sun of the political firmament — in a reply to 
Mr. Niles (Sept. 6th) defends this embargo vote of Mr. Crawford. It tells 
us, that although «' the embargo v,'.as (in 1807) considered the only alternative 
to war," and that the Intelligencer then "proclaimed the measure as one 
which, ill (its) opinion, could no longer in fact be delayed without sacryf«nj- 
the vital interests of llie nation ,-" — yet this same Intelligencer, being, in 1823, 
well content to abandon all pretensions to political foresight, in copripliment 
to that of Mr Crawford, says ; — " It (the embargo) was repealed from the 
conviction of its inefficacyhy the very persons who enacted it": and fur- 
ther; the Intelligencer "now maintains, that those republicans (meaning 
V Mr. Crawford) who had the sa^adty to foresee this result, and firmness 



THE PRESIDENCY. 41 

€noug-h to resist their inclination to g-o with the multitude were, at least, 
as good republicans as those who had no opinion of their own and obeyed 
implicitly the executive recommendation !" Let the reader mark the con. 
tempt here cast by this political sun-foiver on the implicit folhu-ers of MrMJj^ 
Jefferson : it shall be my business to despatch the compliment paid to the 
i-isinff candidate. 

As late as 1810, in the speech so often quoted or referred to, Mr. Craw- 
ford on the subject of the embargo expressly stated, that " he iras (in 18&9) 
■ opposed to its repeal," and asserts, that " the embargo, vilified and abandoned, 
here proved efficacmts!" He is convicted, therefore, by his admission, of a want 
of sagacity in 1807, in voting against the measure ; and according to tlie new 
phasis of the Intelligencer, he wanted sagacity in opposing its repeal in liJ09 
— Recur now to the views of John C. Calhoun. We find them at once lu- 
minous, energetic and consistent. He preferred war to restriction — embargo 
only to submission. 

The limits I find it necessary to observe, will not permit me to give even 
f.rtracts from all the interesting speeches of Mr. Calhoun at this period. I 
shall pass to that on the Loan Bill, March, 1814. * 

This was the most gloomy moment in our history since the revolutionary 
war. The opposition, greatly strengthened in number and in talent, rallied 
all its forces against the loan. The debate had already been proti acted 
more than two weeks. The causes a^-d the conduct of the war, were 
brought under review; — vehemently censured and condemned. By the 
cowardice of a Hull, and the no less fatal imbecility of superanuated gene- 
rals, the favorable moment had been lost for the conquest of Canada. The 
new men, destined to roll back upon the enemy defeat and dismay, were 
yet struggling for notice and command. Our naval heroes, it is true, had put 
lake and ocean in a blaze with their glory, and caused our mountains and 
vallies to ring with their fame. These however were but brilliant flashes, 
across the dark political sky. News had just arrived, that the Allies had 
entered France, in triumph ; that the pacification of Fkirope would im* 
mediately follow, and that England would soon be ready to fall upon us with 
all her mighty means disengaged from a twenty year's war. This was pre- 
cisely the time to which, Mr. Crawford and others, had wished to postpone 
the redress of our wrongs. In the old world "the stormy billows" of war were 
fast " subsiding into a calm." But now the patriot felt that that calm consti- 
tuted the principal difficulty in our position.* A desperate faction seized 



* Mr. Crawford was happily absent from America at this crisis By his most 
solemn admonitions, in part, ^uar and even preparation had been defeated, in 
1810. But for this, we should not, in 1814, have stood single-handed against 
England. He contributed as much as any man in our councils, to bring upon 
the country its increased difficulties; but others were left to breast the storm, 
6 



42 THE PRESIDENCY. 

upon the auspicious moment to defeat the Loan Bill, and thereby to compel 
the government to accept any terms, that the enemy (grown doubly arro- 
gant by success) might grant us as a boon. The war was thus essentially 
^^jftmsferred to the House of Representatives; and if we had been beaten 
there, the cataract of Niagara had wanted the moral sublime conferred by 
our victories amidst its thunders, and the 8th of January the immortal asso- 
ciation of Jackson's deeds and name. But there were master spirits— invin- 
cible minds, both in Congress and in the field to uphold the mighiy cause of 
Freedom against every hazard, and to conquer at her command. 

Among the faremiist, in his place, John C. Calhoun stood the confessed 
champion of the war. In a speech of more tha:n four hours, wlthoui losing 
an auditor, he traced British injustice through all itsd'Ates and ramificaUons; 
refuted the arguments of the opposition leader^ threw back upon them 
their taunts and aspersions, and ended by inspiring the majority with a re- 
newed confidence in the justice, valor and resources of their country. I 
have room only iov a few extracts from this great parliamentary effort. 

"It is now (said Mr. C.) more than two weeks since the commencement 
of this debate, most of which time has been consumed by the opposition 
in attempting to prove the bad faith, poverty, folly and injustice of our go- 
vernment and country. — To defeat the passage of this Bill or to prevent its 
successful operation out of this House, are (with our opponents) the de- 
clared objects of their policy. It is true that all have not made tlie latter 
declaration ; but not one has disavowed it. — Is the war unjust and inexpedi- 
ent ? This is the question I now propose to discuss. The earnestness and 
zeal with which our opponents endeavor to prove this point, seem to me 
not altogether consistent with sound principles, or due love of country. In 
their zeal they often presume that we are wrong, and our enemy right, and 
that on us rests the burthen to show that these charges are false, even be- 
fore they have attempted to prove them to be true ! How contrary this to 
the maxims of Roman wisdom ! That wise and virtuous people so far from 
presuming their country to be in the wrong, held it a crime in a citizen to 
doubt the justice of the public cause. In a state of war how worthy this of 
our imitation. The maxim lay .at the root of Roman greatness. Without it, 
a free state will ever lose much of its peculiar and native strength — the 
spontaneous and concurring zeal of its citizens." 

On the subject of impressment — having dwelt on the amount and enormity 
of the evil, " the liberty of the citizens being paramount to all other con- 
siderations ; Mr Calhoun concluded his remarks, on this cause of war, as 
follows — 

'« We are told that our seamen ask no pi'otection, and that it is strange 
that those who are remote and least interested should discover so much 
anxiety for them. As to the first part of this argument, I deny its truth. 
The sailors have claimed our protection. They have importuned and invo- 



THE PRESIDENCY. 43 

ked their country for it. — We have had their applications kid before this 
House ill the form of a document. They constituted a large volume. Con- 
sidering the cold indifference wilh which we heard their prayers, 1 wonder 
that they did not cease to consider us as their guardians. But we who 
stand forth to discliarge ihis sacred duty, are charged with being backwoods- 
men, who never saw a ship till covened here in our legislalive capacities. 
Admit the fact, and what ihen ? such generous sympathy with those who 
stand connected with us only by the lies of citizenship, does honor to our 
country, I hope it is not strange. Nay it is usual. Our history abounds 
with instances of this sympaihy of the whole with every part. When it 
ceases to be natural, we shall cease to be a nation. — It constitutes our real 
union. The rest is but form. The wonder is, in fact, on the other side. 
Since it cannot be denied that American citizens are held in foreign bond- 
age, how strange, that those who boast to be their neighbors ar d relations, 
should be dead to all sympathy, or should want the manly spirit to make a 
generous efFort for their relief! The venerable gentleman from Massachu- 
setts (Mr. Pickering) and another gentleman high in the ranks of his party, 
formerly felt and spoke as we do now— like Americans. How unhappy 
the change ! How unaccountable '.—unless, indeed, by the poisonous ef- 
fects of systematic opposition— a spirit that clings more strongly to party 
than to the cause of country." . 

After reviewing the progress of British maritime usurpations, from "the 
rule of 1756," to the last order in Council, Mr. Calhoun cotinued — 

« This country alone was left to support the rights of neutrals. Perilous 
was the condition and arduous the task. We were not intimidated. We 
stood opposed to British usurpation, and by our spirit and elForts have done 
all in our power to save the last vestiges of neutral rights. Yes, our embar- 
goes, non-intercourse, nonimportation and finally, war — were all manly 
exertions to preserve the rights of this and other nations from the deadly 
grasp of British maritime policy. 

"But, say our opponents, these efforts are lost, and our condition hope- 
less. If so, it only remains for us to assume the garb of our condition. We 
must submit, humbly submit, crave pardon and hug our chains. It is not 
wise to provoke, where we cannot resist. But first let us be well assured 
of the hopelessness of our state, before we sink into abject submission. 
On what do our opponents rest this despondent and slavish belief.? On the 
recent events in Europe ? I admit they are great and well calculated to im- 
pose on the imagination. Our enemy never presented a more imposing 
exterior. His fortune is at the flood. But i am admonished by universal 
experience that such prosperity is the most fickle of human conditions. 
From high flood the tide dates its ebb. From the meridian the sun com- 
mences his decline. Depend upon it ther.e is more of sound philosophy 



44 THE PRESIDENCY. 

than fiction in the fickleness which poets attribute to Fortune. Prosperity 
has its weakness; adversity its strength. In many respects our enemy has 
lost by those very changes whicli seem so very much in liis favor. He can 
now no more claim to he sti uggUng for existence — no more to be fighting- 
the battles of the world, in defence of the liberties of mankind. The ma- 
gic cry of French mfueiice is lost. — In this very Hall we are not strangers to 
that sound. Here, even here, the ery of Frencii influence-^that baseless 
fiction ; that phantom of faction, now banished, often resounded. I re- 
joice that the spell is broken by which it was attempted to bend the gene* 
rous spirit of this youthful nation. The minority can no longer act under 
cover; but must come out and defend their opposition on its intrinsic 
merits. 

"The example (resistance of British usurpation) can scarcely fail to pro- 
duce itseft'ects (on other nations interested in the maintenance of maritime 
righis). But if unfortunately we should be left alone to maintain the con- 
test; and if in consequence — which may God forbid". — necessity should 
compel us to yield for the present; yet our generous efforts will not have 
been lost. A mode of thinking and a tune of sentiment have gone abroad 
which must stimulate to future and successful struggles. — What could not 
be affected with eight millions of people will be done with twenty. The 
great cause will not be yielded — no, never never ! — Sir, I hear the future 
audibly announced in the past ; — in the splendid victories over the Guer- 
riere, Java and Macedonian. We, and all nations, are, by those victories, 
taught a lesson never to be forgotten. Opinion is power. — The charm ->/ 
British 7iaval invincibility is GONE !" ^ 

So spoke the patriot in the hour of his country's greatest peril. Like 
Cato the younger, at the same age, "there was nothing of youthful sallies, 
or finical affectation in his oratory, all was rough, and sensible and strong. 
Nevertheless, amidst the short and solid turn of the sentences, there was a 
grace that engaged the ear.*" The parallel between the two men, might be 
pursued much farther. But it may be said, that this Cato never attained the 
consulsMp. It will be recollected, however, that he lived at the close of 
Roman liberty which, even his great talents and virtues could not sustain ; 
and that he lost his election by combination among his rivals, and his zeal 
against bribery^ American liberty has passed from " the gristle of youth to 
the bone of manhood." 'Tis in the power of the people ; may they long 
guard it from decay ! 

I shall conclude my notice of this portion of Mr. Calhoun's public career 
by an anecdote that will be recollected by the members who served with 
him at the time. 



♦ Plutarch's life of Cato the younger. 



THE PRESIDENCY. 45 

The leading part taken by Mr. Calhoun in the origination and prosecu- 
tion of the war, brought him almost daily in collision with the principal 
members of the opposition ; and although free from personaWien himself^ 
he nevertheless had to repel many sharp expressions in debate. On one 
of these occasions, Messrs. Smllie and Findlej , "the fathers of the House," 

came to Mr. Calhoun and said in substance -, " We see that = 

means to challenge you. We are opposed to duellins' on principle ; but in 
meeting him you will still be fighting the battles of your country." Mr. C. 
neither sought nor declined the invitation. The meeting was finally pre- 
vented by interposition from another quarter- 



FoT the Enquirer of i^ovember 2S, 1823. 
JOHN C. CALHOUN— No. 3. 

Rashnesa is ike error of youth, timid caution, of age. Manhood 
is the isthmus betiveen the two extremes ; the ripe and fertile 
season of action when alone, vje car. hope tofnd the head to 
contrive united vnth the hand to ereczde. — Lacok. 

•I am sensible of the injustice I do to Mr. Calhoun in omitting 
to notice any of his public acts j for though it be true, that he 
has been but tv;e'i«?e years m tiis councils of the Union, we never- 
theless find his history crowded v;ith inciie'ents more than suffi- 
cient, in number an.'. impoLtance, to illustrate z long life devoted 
to the public service. In tracin^^ hCs claims to public favour, it 
is the mass, variety, end richnss_ of the mate; lals which consti- 
tute at once the necessity and difikr.lt^ of selection. His cele- 
brity does not rest on a single great act— standing out in bold 
relief from the general negaticeness of the character j — it de- 
pends on a rapid succession of such acts, each of which chal- 
lenges our admiration, and which, when taken together, form the 
portrait of an accomplished and brilliant statesman. There is 
not, in fact, a single branch of our foreign policy, or internal 
administration, that has not passed under the review of his pow- 



46 THE PRESIDENCY. 

erful mind, and on which his conclusions do not stand recorded 
for tlie inspection of liis fellow-citizens. Some of his opinions, 
are indeed objected to among us; but in his career all is light. 
He has never temporized. He has kept no " prudent reserves 
with the public :" no dark corner in his breast for secret biasses 
with which to astound, at some unguarded moment, his deluded 
supporters. In short, whether we look into his countenance or 
his history, we behold alike the undoubted and undoubting traits 
of distinguished frankness and intelligence. 

His speech on the New Army Bill in 1813, like many others 
of the war period, has been unavoidably omitted, and I can 
only briefly notice many of the great measures originated or 
supported by him, in the important interval between the treaty 
of peace, and his entrance into the cabinet December, 1817. 

In the introduction to the second volume of the American 
Register, printed in 1817, the editor who holds a classical and 
powerful pen, has drawn the following character of Mr. Cal- 
houn's legislative services ; 

" Several of the speeches delivered on the repeal of the direct 
tax, besides those of Mr. Clay and Mr. Hopkinson which I have 
given entire in my first volume, could be cited as ingenious 
and instructive performances. I would indicate particularly 
those of Mr. Calhoun, who shines on every occasion which 
calls for an appeal to genera! principles, and enlarged views 
of policy. His language in the debates on the additional mil- 
itary academies, on the general appropriation bill, on the en- 
couragement of domestic manufactures, was that of a states- 
man " looking before and after.'' 

On the subject of the dij-ect tax Mr. Calhoun spoke against 
the repeal and mainly contributed to defeat the measure at that 
time. It was however carried after he had left Congress, and 
hence a large increase of national debt incurred by loans in a 
time of profound peace, and under the financial administration 
of Mr. Crawford. It does not appear that the latter gentle- 



THE PRESIDENCY. 47 

man did any thing to oppose the repeal of this tax, though 
he was the secretary of the treasury at both periods when 
the question was agitated. His rival with a "species of self 
devotion" which has ever characterized his public life, prefer- 
red the tax to loans — his duty, to popularity. 

The fullovving is the history of his speech on the general 
appropriation bill alluded to above : — Under the act of 1809, 
the President was authorized to transfer money from one head 
of appropriation to a different head. By a reference to the 
Journals of the H. of K. 2d sess. 14th Congress it will be seen, 
that the first attempt to establish the existing system of specific 
appropriations, was made by Mr. Calhoun, on a motion to in- 
struct the committee of ways and means to enquire into the ex- 
pediency of repealing the act of 1809. Did Mr. Crawford, as 
Secretary of the Treasury, aid this great reform .'* He did not; 
and if enquiry be made among the members of that Committee 
it will be found that the Secretary exerted himself against the 
proposition and succeeded in crippling it in some of its mate- 
rial parts. 1 regret that I cannot, at this moment, lay my 
hands on this truly republican Speech of Mr. Calhoun which 
established the principle, of the last importance in a free coun- 
try — that not a dollar of the peopleh money shall be expended, 
without the specific authority of the people's immediate represent 
tatives 

Another great parliamentary effort was made by him about 
this time on the " treaty making power." The late Mr. Pink- 
ney who followed in debate, said — " The strong power of ge- 
nius from a higher region than that of argument, had thrown 
on (the question) all the light with which it is the prerogative of 
genius to invest and illustrate every thing." And still more 
dirertly — "The gentleman from S. Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) 
has exhausted the correct constitutional grounds of the question, 
and left him nothing but to recapitulate his arguments." 

I have quoted these complimentary notices as well to justify 
the high anticipations of the Enquirer, expressed on Mr. Cal- 



48 THE PRESIDENCY. 

houn's first appearance in Congress, as because I have not, at 
this moment, the speeches by me to exhibit for themselves. 

His support of the present bank of the United States, and of 
Internal Improvement, i had designed to reserve for the head 
of pojyular cljections : but cannot resist the pleasure of notic- 
ing the speech on the latter occasion, in this place. As a whole, 
it is believed that our congressional debates do not furnisii a 
finer specimen of statesman-like oratory. The noble senti- 
ments brsathed in the extracts which follow will amply compen- 
sate the 'rouble of perusal. Mr. Calhoun first adverts to the 
effect of the improvements in question, on productive industj-y 
and wealth, and Caen proceeds — 

"But there are higher and more powerful considerations why 
Congress ought to take charge of this subject. If we were only 
to consider the pecuniary advantages of a good system of roads 
and canals, it might indeed admit of some doubt whether they 
ought not to be left wholly to individual exertions; but when 
Vv e come to consider how intimately the strength and prosperity 
of the Republic are connected with this subject we find the most 
urgent reasons why we should apply our resources to them. In 
many respects, no country of equal population and wealth 
possesses equal materials of power with ours. The people, in 
muscular vigor, in hardy and enterprising habits, and in a lofty 
and gallant courage are surpassed by none. In one respect, 
and in my opinion in one only, we are materially weak. We 
occupy a surface prodigiously great in proportion to our num- 
bers. The common strength is brought with difiiculty to bear 
on the point that may be menace*^ by an enemy. It is our duty, 
then, as far as in the nature ef things it can be efi'ected, to coun- 
teract this weakness. Good roads and canals, judiciously laid 
out, are the proper remedy. In the recent war how much did 
we suffer for the want of them ! Besides the tardiness and the 
consequent inefficiency of our military movements, to what an 
increased expense was the country put for the article of trans- 
portation alone ! In the event of another war, the saving in 



THE PRESIDENCY. SI 

mail and tlie press, said lie, are, the nerves of tlie body politic. 
By them, the sliglitest impression made on the most remote parts^ 
is communicated to the whole system ; and the more perfect the 
means of transportation, the more rapid and true the vibration. 
To aid us in this great work, to maintain the integrity of this 
Republic, we inhabit a country presenting the most admirable 
advaninges. Belted round, as it is, by lakes and oceans, inter- 
sected in every direction by bays and rivers, the hand of indus- 
try and art is tempted to improvement. So situated, blessed 
with a form of government at once combining liberty and 
strength, we may reasonably raise our eyes'to a most splendid 
future, if we oi]ly act in a manner worthy of our advantages. 
If, however, neglecting them, we permit a !(nv, sordid, selfish, 
sectional spirit to t;ike possession of this House, this happy 
scene will vanish. We sliall divide, and as consequences will 
follow — misery and despotism. 

"To legislate for our countr3', continued Mr. C, requires 
not only the most enlarged views, but a species of self devotion 
not exacted in any other. In a country so extensive, and so 
various in its interests, what is necessary for the common good, 
may apparently, be opposed to the interests of particular sec- 
tions. This must be submifted to as the condition of our great- 
ness. But were we a small Republic; were we confined to the 
ten miles' square, the selfish instincts of our nature might, in 
most cases, be relied on for the management of public affairs. " 

Mr. Calhoun (after an interregnum^ succeeded Mr. Crawford, 
as Secretary at War. Here a new field was opened to his ge- 
nius, industry and love of order and economy. The depart- 
ment in all its branches stood in its original "confusion — worse 
confounded" by the prodigious masses of unsettled war accounts 
which had been seven years accumulating. These were now 
destined to be broken up and despatched. The mere raanuel 
part of the labor and also such decisions as rested on express 
provisions of law devolved of course, on the subordinate officers 
of the department. But in all doubtful cases of expenditure, 
and particularly in the settlement of state claims for militia ser- 



52 THE PRESIDENCY. 

vices rendered, a personal reference to llie Secretary under the 
same provisions *of law, became indispensable. In December 
1817, when Mr. C. came into office the amonnt of these unset- 
tled debts and credits was more than forty millions of dollars. 
This enormous mass has already been reduced to a mere modi- 
cum, and the amount found due to the United States received, 
or put into suit for collection. A similar instance of despatch in 
the settlement of war-accounts it is believed never occurred in 
the experience of any other government. In England it is said 
they usually remain unaudited for half a century. Great credit 
is certainly due to, the accounting officers attached to the war 
department, for their share in these appalling labors; and I 
doubt not that they were from the first, equally ready and vt^il- 
lingto perform their duties ; but, it is as certainly true, that for 
the want of an efficient head little or nothing had been done 
before Mr. Calhoun's appointment. — For the truth of these facts 
1 refer to the reports annually made to Congress, of what is 
termed, public defaulters — that is, of the progress made in the 
unrolling of these manuscripts — which, like those buried in 
Pompeii and Herculaneum, might have slept for centuries but 
for the new genius that presided over the work of disinterment. 
Mr. Calhoun had scarcely entered on his new duties when 
Congress passed an act granting pensions to the survivors of the 
revolutionary army and navy, and referring the whole subject to 
the war department. It is believed that the number of appli- 
cants for the benefits of this act has been more than sixty 
ihousand. Now it was manifest on reflection, that, under the 
very strict limitations imposed by Congress the survivors enti- 
tled to be placed on the Pension List could not equal a third of 
that number. This mustering host of claims, was therefore, to 
be examined in detail, as well to save the Treasury' from impo- 
sition, as to be certain that not one individual whose early 
patriotism and existing penury entitled him to national assis- 
tance should be disappointed. Both these objects have been 
attained with as much certainty as ever attended the decisions 
©f the highest judicial tribunals, and the number of revolution- 



THE PRESIDENCY. 49 

this particular would go far towards indemnifying us for the 
expenses of constructing the means of transportation. 

*' It is not however in this respect only, that roads and canals 
add to the strength of a country. Our power of raising reve- 
nue, in war particularly, depends mainly on them. In peace 
our revenue depends principally on the imports; in war this 
source, in a great measure, fails, and internal taxes to a great 
amount, become necessary. Unless the means of commercial 
intercourse are rendered much more perfect than they now are, 
we shall never be able in war to raise the necessary supplies. If 
taxes were collected in kind ; if, for instance, the farmer and 
mechanic paid in their surplus produce, then the difficulty 
would not exist, as, in no country on earth, is there so great a 
surplus, in proportion to population, as ours. But such a sys- 
tem of taxes is impossible. They must be paid in money, 
and by the constitution, must be laid uniformly. What then 
is the effect ? The taxes are laid in every part of this exten- 
sive country, uniformly ; but the expenditure must, in its na- 
ture, be principally confined to the scene of military opera- 
tions. This drains the circulating medium from one part, and 
accumulates it in another — perhaps a very distant one. The 
result is obvious. Unless it can return through the operations 
of trade, the parts from which the constant drain takes place, 
must ultimately be impoverished. Commercial intercourse is 
the true remedy to this weakness ; and the means by which 
this is to be effected, are roads, canals, and the coasting trade. 
On these, combined with domestic manufactures, does the mo- 
nied capacity of this country, in war, depend. Without them, 
not only will we be unable to raise the necessary supplies, but 
the currency of the country must necessarily fall into the 
greatest disorders — such as we lately experienced. 

" But on this subject of national power, what, said Mr. Cal- 
houn, can be more important than a perfect unity in every part, 
in feelings and interest .f* And what can tend more powerfully 
to produce it, than overcoming the effects of distance ? No 
people enjoying freedom, ever occupied any thing like as great 

7 



50 THE PiiESlDENCY. 

an extern of coiinlrv as ihis Republic. One Imndred years 
ago, tlie most proiomid philosopliers did not believe it to be 
even possible. They did not suppose it possible that a pure 
Republic coidd exist on as great a scale even as the island of 
Great Britain. 'Vhat was then considered cliinierical, we 
now have the felicity to enjoy ; and what is most remarkable, 
such is the happy mould of our government ; so well are the 
state and general powers blended, that much of our political 
happiness draws its origin from the extent of our republic. 
It has exempted us from most of the causes which distracted 
the small Republics of antiquity. Let it not, however, be for- 
gotten ; let it forever be kept in mind, that it exposes us to the 
greatest of all calamities, next to the loss of libert}', and even 
to that in its consequences — disunion. We are great, and ra- 
pidly, 1 was about to say — fearfully, growing. This is our 
pride and danger — our weakness and strength. Little, said 
Mr. C. does he deserve to be entrvisted with the liberties of this 
people, who does not raise his mind to these truths. We are 
under the most imperious obligation to counteract every ten- 
dency to disunion. The strongest of all cements is, undoubt- 
edly, the wisdom, justice, and above all the moderation of this 
house. Yet the great subject on which we are now deliberat- 
ing, in this respect, deserves the most serious consideration. 
Whatever impedes the intercourse of the extremes with this, the 
centre, of the republic, weakens the union. The more enlarged 
the sphere of commercial circulation, the more extended that of 
social intercourse ; the more strongly are we bound together ; 
the more inseparable our destinies. Those who understand the 
human heart know how powerfully distance tends to break the 
smypathies of our nature. Nothing, not even the dissimilarity 
of language, tends more to estrange man from man. Let us 
then, said Mr. C. bind the Republic together with a perfect sys- 
tem of roads and canals. Let us conquer space : It is thus the 
most distant parts of the Republic will be brought within a few 
days travel of the centre ; it is thus that a citiien of the West 
m\\ read the news of Boston still moist from the press. The 



THE PRESIDENCY. 55 

the institution of a system of permanent fortification — by which 
our coasts will soon be rendered invulnerable to an enemy; the 
establishment of a cordon of military posts, stretching from the 
upper lakes, around our western frontier — as physical and mo- 
ra! shackles on Indian hostilities;* and, finally, for his duties 
as a cabinet counsellor, in which capacity he is well known to 
have given to the measures of the President, an honest and effi- 
cient support. 

I here close the long, but rapid enumeration of Mr. Cal- 
houn's great public services. In my next ('and concluding^ 
number, I shall notice such objections as 1 hear among us urged 
tohis elevation to the chief magistracy of this Union. 

TUOMSOK. 

* It will be remembered, that the Mamdau village was deemed an essential 
link in this cordon Congress stopped the expedition at the Coimcil Bluffs. 
The recent hostilities in that quarter are the result I 

For the Enquirer of December 2, 1823. 
JOHN C. CALHOUN— No. 4. 
In politics as in religion^ it so happens that we have less cha- 
rity for those ivho believe the half of our creed, than for those 
who deny the ichole of it. — Lacon. 

That this truth is strikingly exemplified in the conduct of Mr. 
Crawford's partisans in Virginia towards Mr. Calhoun, I shall 
now demonstrate under the head of objections to the latter of these 
candidates. 

In reference to the bank of the United States and internal im- 
provements, it is alleged of Mr. Calhoun, that " he mistakes 
the true theory of our constitution, and advocates the assump- 
tion of extensive powers by the federal government which 
were never conferred. That "HE, ALSO, argued— taking 
into view the prohibition against the states issuing bills of cre- 
dit, that there was a strong presumption this power was intended 
to be exclusively given to Congress." 

These objections are taken from the Enquirer of the 3d 
Oct. 1823. The words in italics are quoted by the editors of 



56 THE PRESIDENCY. 

that paper, from Mr. Calhoun's speech on the bill for incorpo- 
rating the bank of the U. S. — Now admitting for a moment, 
that the extract in italics, laketi with the ccTntext, fairly repre- 
sents the sense of the speaker, (and I shall presently shew 
most conclusively, that it does not) we here have " the very 
head and front of his oflending" against state rights. How 
does Mr. Crawford stand on constitutional grounds.'* — this Mr. 
C. wiiom the Enquirer holds up as having sinned less than 
either of his rivals ? 

Mr. Crawford was, in the Senate, the chairman of the com- 
mittee that reported the bill for rechartering the old bank of the 
U. S. in 1811. "He was the father of the measure." Mr. 
Calhoun, in the House of Representatives, occupied the same 
relation to the bill for incorporating the new bank in 1816. 
Here the parallel ceases, and the contrast begins — Over the 
old bank the government exercised no control whatever : the 
stock of the institution was almost exclusively owned by federal- 
ists and foreigners, who, on great occasions, exercised a fearful 
influence over our political elections, and even directly over the 
fiscal operations, of the government itself. The new bank, on 
the contrary, was placed mainly under the control of the go- 
vernment, and the four-fifths of its stock not owned by the U. 
S. are principally in the hands of Ameri( an citizens, without 
distinction of parlies. Mr. Crawford considered the bank as a 
means necessary and proper to the right of raising revenue. 
He even takes the higher argument of convenience. " We do 
not (he avowed) say, that the existence of the government abso- 
lutely depends upon the operations of the bank ; but that a na- 
tional bank enables the government to manage its fiscal con- 
cerns more advantageously than it could by any other means." 
This is precisely the federal ground assumed in 1791, and com- 
batted by the whole republican party then in the minority. This 
minority Mr. Crawford characterises as " inimical" to the fede- 
ral constitution ; and expressly says *' the old bank law passed 
in the best days of this republic." From this it appears, the 
republican preference attributed to him by his partisans, for the 



THE PRESIDENCY. S3 

ary pensioners, under that act reduced to about sixteen thou- 
sand. And here I do not hazard contradiction from any candid 
mind, acquainted with the facts, when 1 assert, thai Mr. Calhoun, 
in the perfmniance of this herculean labor has, by his extraor- 
dinary habits of business and powers of discrimination saved 
to the United Slates at least a million of dollars annually, since 
1818 — a savinitf that will be continued, tho' on a declining scale, 
for the next fifteen or twe.itv years ! 

When Mr. Calhoun came to the direction of the war depart- 
ment, the average cost of the officers and men in the army, was 
about $451 per annum eacli. A reduction in the cost of sup- 
plies of every sori would, of itself, have reduced that average to 
about 3377 ; but the present average (and it has been equally 
low for several years) is but $298. The difference therefore, 
amounting to about $440,000 per annum, on an army of 5500 
men and officers, can be attributed only to the admirable system 
of supply and exact accountability that he has introduced in 
all the parts of the establishment. !n proof of these assertions, 
I refer to the President's messages during the two last winters 
and their accompanying documents. From these it will appear, 
that not one dollar in a thousand is now lost either by igno- 
rance, fraud or failure on the whole expenditure of ihe depart- 
ment. Let the real friends of enlightened economy, look to 
these great results. 

These triumphs of genius and system, over ignorance and 
waste could never have been effected without a thorough interior 
reform of the war department, within itself, and the new model- 
ling of the staff of the army. The truth is, the war department 
had never been put on the footing of that of the treasury (for 
example) which owed its admirable organization to the analyti- 
cal mind of Hamilton — the first incumbent. This was now the 
first duty to be performed. Mr C. saw at once that his depart- 
ment was not a labor-saving machine; — that the genius of in- 
vention and of construction had never been employed upon it. 
Left by the President responsible only for re^M^i's in the execu- 
tion of his particular duties, Mr. C. found a motive in giving f 



54 THE PRESIDENCY. 

his department the higliest beneficial action. His fame became 
immediately interested in it. Accordingly, he commenced the 
reform by breaking up the general mass of business, and distri- 
buting it among several distinct bureaux. At the head of each 
of these, an officer of rank was placed, having a particular ex- 
perience in that branch of duties. This head looked only to 
thechief of the department, who in turn, looked hourly to each 
of those heads— in order to assure himself, absolutely, that all 
acted on the general principles prescribed. 

As incident to ihis great reform was the remodelling of the staff, 
and the introduction of a new branch (the commissariat) for the 
subsistence of the troops. These measurrs were effected by re- 
commendations to Congress through the military committees of 
the two Houses ; and thus the chief of each branch of the new 
staff, became the head of one of the bureaux before mentioned. 
All the effects which result from a judicious division of labor and 
responsibility were soon found to succeed these simple but grand 
conceptions. Each chief of a bureau immediately felt that he 
had a direct interest in the able discharge of his duties, under 
the powerful stimulants of inspection and competition. The 
whole army, in all its branches of service and expenditure, was 
from the first, made to feel the hand of regeneration. Orders 
were now transmitted with direct certainty to the point of execu- 
tion, and reports of the service performed received back in like 
manner. Every dollar of public money drawn from the Trea- 
sury could now be distinctly traced through a few hands to its 
destined object, and the vouchers for the expenditure returned 
in time to be checked and settled within the fiscal year. 

This simple exposition will readily explain how Mr. Calhoun 
has found time and means for the despatch of the old accounts 
of the war before-mentioned; — the examination of claims for re- 
volutionary pensions ; — the thorough revivification of the mili- 
tary academy — the source of professional science; the establish- 
ment of a uniform and vigorous disciplin^ throughout the 
army — supported by the most rigorous economy in expenditures; 
a surveyor our maritime frontier by officers of the engineers ; 



THE PRESIDENCY. 57 

first four years of Mr. Jefferson's administration, is but an nfior 
thought — a luckxj hit for tlic poliiical leap Jjear that is at hand. 
The trutli is, that most of his principles in government are like 
the calculations in an almanac — they are made for, and run out 
with the year. 

The above is but a small part of the anti-republican speech 
which the Enquirer very justly admits to be " a blot on the 
escutcheon" of its favorite. The editors however never copy 
or quote the speech it-elf Like able advocates at the bar, tiiey 
seem to put in the plea of guilty to exclude all aggravating cir- 
cumstances f-om the jury. In the following extracts from Mr. 
Calhoun's speech on the new bank we shall see whether tlse edi- 
tors have shown equal skill in prosecution as in defence. 

Mr. Calhoun said — " as to the state of the currency of the 
nation, that it was extremely depreciated and in degrees vary- 
ing with the dilferent sections of the country, all would as- 
sent. That tliis state of the currency was a stain on public and 
private credit, and injurious to the morals of the community, 
was so clear a proposition as to require no proof There were, 
however, other considerations arising from the state of the cur- 
rency not so generally /t;lt; not so generally assented to. The 
present stale of our circulating medium was, he said, opposed 
to the principles of the federal constitution. The power was 
given to Congress, by that instrument, in express terms to regu- 
late the currency of the U. S. In point of fact, that power 
though given to Congress, is not now in their hands. The 
power is exercised by banking institutions, no longer responsi- 
ble for the correctness with which they manage it. Gold and 
silver have disappeared entirely; there is no money but paper 
money, and that is beyond the control of Congress. No one, 
continued Mr. Calhoun, who referred to the constitution, could 
doubt, that the money of the U. States was intended to be placed 
entirely under the control of Congress. The only object the 
framers of the constitution could have had in view in giving to 
Congress the power " to coin money, regulate the value thereof, 
and of foreign coin," must have been to give steadiness and 

8 



S3 THE PRESIDENCY. 

fixedness of value to ihe currency of the U.S. The state of 
things at the time of the adoption of the constitution, aflbrded 
an argument in support of this construction. There then ex- 
isted a depreciated paper currency which could only be regu- 
lated and made uniform by giving a power for thai purpose to 
ihe general government. The States could not do it. He ar- 
gued, therefore, taking into view the prohibition against the 
stales issuing bills of credit, that there was a strong presumption 
this power was intended to be given exclusively to Congress.* 
Mr. Calhoun said, he acknowledged there was no provision in 
the constitution by which the states were prohibited from crea- 
ting the banks which now exercised the power (that is, the pow- 
er of issuing mere bills of credit-notes not redeemable in specie, 
on demand) but banks were then but little known. Ther<^ was 
but one, the bank of N. America with a capital of only 
$400,000 ; and the universal opinion was, that bank notes re- 
presented gold and silver, and that there could be no necessity 
to prohibit banking institutions under this impression ; because, 
if their notes always represented gold and silver, they could 
not be multiplied beyond the demands of the country. Mr. 
Calhoun then drew the distinction between banks of deposite and 
banks of discount ; the latter of which were then (in 1789) but 
little understood, and their abuse not conceived until demon- 
strated by recent experience. No man, he remarked, in the 
convention, much talent and much wisdom as it contained, 
could possibly have foreseen the course of these institutions; 
that they would have nmltiplied from one, to two hundred and 
sixty ; from a capital of $400 000 to one of eighty millions ; from 
being consistent with the provisions of the constitution, and the 
exclusive right of Congress to regulate the currency, that they 
should become directly opposed to both ; that so far from their 
credit depending on their punctuality in redeeming their bills 
with specie, they might goon, ad infinitum, in violation of their 
contracts without a dollar in their vaults. — Restore, said Mr. 

♦ This is the sentence quoted by the Enquirer of the 3d October last, as I 
have ah-eady noticed in the begiiuiing of this article. Let the reader judge 
of its meaning in connexion with the context. I shall have occasion to re- 
sur to it agjun. 



THE PRESIDENCY. 59 

Calhoun, these insiitulions to their original use; cause them to 
give up tlieir usurped power ; cause them to return to their legit- 
imate oftlcc of places of discount and deposite; let them be no 
longer paper machines ; restore the state of things which exist- 
ed anterior to 1813, which was consistent with the just policy 
and interests of the country — cause them to fulfil their broken 

faith." 

To efiect these objects, of the highest importance to the na- 
tion, Mr. Calhoun proposed perhaps the only remedy. 

"A national bank, he said, paying specie itself, would soon 
have a tendency to make specie payments general, as well by 
its influence, as example. It will be the interest of tlie national 
bank to produce this state of things; because, otherwise, its 
operation will be greatly circumscribed, as it must pay out 
specie or national bank notes: for, he presumed, one of tl^e 
first rules of such a bank vvould be, to take the notes of 
no bank which did not pay in gold and silver. A national 
bank of 35 millions with the aid of those banks which are at 
once ready to pay specie, would produce a powerful effect all 
over the Union. Further, a national bank would enable the 
government to resort to measures which would make it unpro- 
fitable to the (local) banks to continue the violation of their 
contracts, and advantageous to return to the observation of 
them. The leading measures of this character would be to 
strip the banks refusing to pay specie of all the profits arising 
from the business of the government; — to prohibit deposits with 
them, and to refuse to receive their notes in payment of dues to 
the government." 

These predictions have all been absolutely fulfilled, with one 
signal exception — I allude to the loss of about $700,000, de- 
posited by order of Mr. Crawford in certain non-paying banks 
of the west, in opposition to the above sound advice of Mr. 
Calhoun ! 

We have seen that the extract from Mr. Calhoun's speech, 
given in the Enquirer with the significant preface — " He also" 
is calculated to produce the erroneous impression that Mr. Cal- 



CO THE PRESIDENCY. 

houn tIiout;Ijt t'le state banks were so many usurpations on tl»e 
constitution oi" tlie U. S. " For the He also" the Enquirer 
might truiy have said, such waS the monstrous doctrine of Mr. 
Crawford alone. The following are his own words. — In sup- 
port of the old banks IMr. Crawford said — " Had these great 
states (Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania) who have un- 
dertaken, by their instructions to influence the decision of this 
question by Congress, contented themselves with this right to 
establish banks, 1 should not, upon this occasion, enter into aii 
investigation of that right. But these great states, not content 
with the exercise of an usurped authority, are by usurpation, at- 
tempting to legislate for Congress. And, Sir, what is the in- 
ducement of these great states to put down the bank of the U. 
S. ^ Their avarice combined with their love of domination ! 
They have erected banks in many of which they hold stock to a 
considerable amount, and they wish to compel the U. S. to use 
their banks as places of deposit for their public money, by which 
Jiey expect to increase their dividends. And in the banks in 
which they have no stock, many of the individua) members of 
their legislatures are stockholders, and, no doubt, were influ- 
enced to give instructions by motives of sheer avarice!" 

Here we have a denial of the whole of our creed, with insult and 
outrage superadded to the heresy. But it has been said, in the En- 
quirer, that Mr. Crawford has whispered to some Virginian regrets 
that he ever held this language; but has he publicly and soletnnly 
recanted it .''If so, where is the evidence of the fact ? Let it be 
borne in mind that he was, at the time of the offence, a Senator of 
one of ihe small states, and had not (nor did he till the caucus of 
1816) lift his ambition to the chief magistracy of this nation. Nor 
will the defence which has also been setup — that the many repre- 
hensible sentiments, contauied in the speech were uttered in the 
heat of debate — avail him on this occasion. The speech, on the 
face of it, carries the irresistible conviction, that it was coolly 
and deliberately written out with his own hand for the press ! 
Let the enemies of Mr. Calhoun shew that he has ever uttered 
» sentiment repugnant to liberty j or has ever outraged any, 



THE PRESIDENCY. 61 

even llie smallest state or district in the union, in the manner 
of Mr. Crawford, and I, as one of the voters of Virginia, will 
instantly say — let him be abandoned to his fate. 

On tlie subject of internal improvements, 1 have already quo- 
led (in my third numberj Mr. Calhoun's views very much at 
large, and did not find that he had more than touched on the 
constitutional question. His speech, it will be recollected, was 
made on the bill after the amendment requiring the consent of 
the states to the particular works which might be executed in 
them respectively, and hence he seems to have considered the 
question likened to the principle in the Cumberland Road Bill, 
in the time of Mr. Jefferson — and therefore settled. There can 
be no doubt, however, that he goes as far as Mr. Monroe on 
this subject — or, in other words, that he believes Congress to 
possess the right, under the constitution, to appropriate any sur- 
plus money that may be in the Treasury to the construction of 
roads and canals for great national purposes. 

And what are Mr. Crawford's views in respect to national roads 
and canals.^ Mark: 1 object to all answers that may be uttered 
in whispers. These may be crossed, forgotten or contradicted, 
at pleasure. I demand — where is his public act, or expression, 
on this matter.'* No where. 

The subject has been brought before the public since Mr. Craw- 
ford became a candidate for the presidency, and he has stood mute, 
except perhaps, to confidential friends of opposite views, from that 
moment to the present. Not even the express command of Con- 
gress has been able to extort from him, in the last five years, a 
syllable in reply. Contrast this act of contumacy with the 
prompt, and open conduct of Mr. Calhoun on this, as on every 
occasion; and let us ask ourselves, which of the two is the better 
republican ? Mr. Calhoun, who replied to the order at the ear- 
liest practicable moment; or Mr. Crawford, who has silently de- 
clined obedience from the fear of injuring his popularity.? Further 
— If Mr. Crawford publickly proclaimed, before he was a can- 
didate for the presidency, that the establishment of the Bank of 
Virginia and the Farmers' Bank, for example, were acts of state 
"usurpation;" why may he not now secretly entertain the opinion, 



52 THE PRESIDENCY. 

for future purposes, tliat the construction of the state road from 
tlie James river to tlie Kanhawa, Is equally an usurpation — be- 
cause, the constitution of the United Stales has said " Con- 
gress shall have power to establish post roads"? This is no 
extravagance in argument. The suppostiiious case is but an 
apt illustration of that which stands recorded of Mr. Crawford. 
In the face of these facts, perhaps the Enquirer may again 
assert of Mr. Calhoun — " why, if there be an ultra in favor 
of the federal powers, he is the man. His acts are proof 
enough without his speeches." I am aware that '' the flighty 
assertion never is o'ertooU, unless the refutation go with 
it;" that thousands who have read the former will not care 
to follow me through these numbers — in which 1 have en- 
deavored lo collect and condense every important act and 
speech of Mr. Calhoun's political life ; but should any leisure 

eye fall on this passage, the conviction shall flash upon it, that 
tVlr. Crawford stands., by his own " merit raised to that bad emi- 
nence" so unjustly accorded to another. In his speech on the 
oanli of the United Slates he roundly asserted — 

" The etitire sovere gniy of this nation is vesied in the slate governments, 
and in the federal gv>ve iiment except that part of it which is retained by 
the people, which is solely the r.ghi of elec iiig their public functionaries." 

"The right to Cieate a corporation is a right inherit m every sovereignty; 
the people of the U. S. cannot exercise thia ngiit. — If then the states are 
restra.ned from creating a bank, with author ty lo emit bills nf credit (and 
Mr. Crawford considered all bank, notes such) ii appears to be es*ablish- 
ed, that the federal gove* nmenl does possess the right " 

Permit me here simply to ask, whether a parallel to these 
monstrous doctrines can be found in the writings or speeches 
of the fathers of federalism ; in the worst days of the reign of 
terror — under that administration to which Mr. Crawford pledg- 
ed himself without exception or reserve.? If not, wiih what pro- 
priety can the Enquirer say — that admitting Mr. Crawford 
wrote the Augusta Address, that it is an isolated act — rontradicted 
by the whole tenor of his life .? Look at the overwhelming proofs 
jost given to the contrary — to his vote against the embargo 
—his speech in 1810, against preparation and war, — hh rebuke 
of Mr. Jefferson, on the subject of the navy— his ridicule of 
Mr. Madison's first war message— his declaration to a federal 



THE PRESIDENCY. G8 

member of Congress witliin a year or two past, lliat party distinc- 
tions should be buried, and to the following, the peroration of 
his speech on the bank — in whieh he solemenly exhorts the 
republicans of the Senate to act on that principle — 

♦'Doe- the pride of opinion (said Mr. (";.) revolt at the idea of acquiescence 
in the system ot your political opponents ? Come ! and witji me sacfifice 
your i>ride luid polilical reseniments at the shrine of political g'lod Let 
ilu m be made a propitiatory saci ifice for the proinoio'i of the public wel- 
fare; the savi r of which will ascend to Heaven and be theie recorded as a 
lasting- and everlasting evidei-ice of your devotion to ihe happiness of your 
country " 

I had designed to conclude this notice of objections to Mr, 
Calhoun by an examination of the Tariff question, togethei;' 
with some late indications of Mr. Crawford on this subject 
" that palter with us in a double sense" ; but find, that I must 
basten to a conclusion- 1 will however but just remark that 
Mr. Calhoun's opinions on this subject are not of a recent ori- 
gin, intended to catch the popular voice to the north and west, 
in the impending election. They 'vere distinctly avo" -d as 
far back as in 1814, in his speech on the Loan Bill, and seem 
to constitute an essential feature in bis system of national po- 
licy. They have since been often repeated and supported with 
"a species of self devotion" (to use an expression of his ownj 
which 1 believe almost peculiar to himself lie belongs to a 
state more entirely agricultural than that of Virginia. South 
Carolina, justly proud of his gt eat talents and services, has tlie 
magnanitnity to excuse if not entirely to approve, this bias in 
her favorite son, and I know not why we should consider it aposi- 
iive objection. Mr. Calhoun however, is not understood to be 
the advocate of any sudden revolution in the productive labor 
and business of the country, through the medium of a new Ta- 
riff. From his speeches, I understand him to be in favor of 
encouraging manufactures of the first necessity, to a certain ex" 
tent, and by regular degrees ; npon the same principles, that 
we support a nav}', army and fortifications — to render our in- 
dependence on Europe the more certain and absolute. 

It has been beautifully said by a great whig of another coun- 
try — ihdii every man favored by education or position, ought ei^ 
iher to write something worthy of being read, or to do something 



C4 THE PRESIDENCI^ 

worthy of being ivritfen. Mr. Calhoun we have seen, has nobly 
performed both these duties of his condition. What is the fact 
in respect to Mr. Crawford ^ his speeches it will be universally 
admitted, are highly obnoxious to republican censures; and no- 
body mentions his reports with commendation. Wlien then we 
demand on what acts he founds his claims to the presidency? 
We are answered with columns of empty assertions — "mere 
words, words, words !" 

The objection (o the age of Mr. Calhoun is the last resort of 
his opponents. This like every other, urged against him, is best 
answered by the simple recapitulation of liis deeds. Can either 
of the oZc?er candidates exhibit political services and capacities 
equal in either number or brilliancy ; or prove an equal exemp- 
tion from defect and error.'* On this comparison ought strictly to 
depend the choice of a free and intelligent people. The reply 
of the great Pitt to Walpole will be remembered by every reader. 
Greater age certainly carries with it, the naked presumption of 
greater wisdom ; but, that age and wisdom are not always paral- 
lel or proportionate, is a melancholy truth daily seen in every 
group of five individuals, as among the five candidates for the 
Presidency. The average age of the members who formed the 
Constitution of the U. S. in genral convention was about forty- 
five. These sages, with, perhaps, but one individual — the pre- 
sident of their body — the father of liis country — in view for the 
chiefmagistracy of the Republic, nevertheless deliberately admit- 
ted that a citizen might render himself worthy of this high office 
by the age of thirty-five; and fixed accordingly the point of eli- 
gibility. On theMth March, 1825, Mr. Calhoun will be in his 
forty-fourth year — more than two presidential terms older than 
is required by the constitution; and twelve years have already 
elapsed, since he was hailed by the great political organ of Vir- 
ginia, as "resemhlingone of the oldsages of the old Coiigress, with 
all the graces of youth." The loss of the latter in the service of his 
country, but confirms the resemblance, and renders JOHN C. 
CALHOUN, at this day, the most worthy to succeed the last 
President of the revolutionary school. 

TUOmSOK. 












■ «< C<; <Z *£: <: 






- ':;^ 

■^o 






- <r tec 






r «r -c c cc 









- 1 1 <*-^' 



^ ^«^ 









s- Cic <3^ V ^ 



i Si:^^; 



^:z est <r 






- c> cc 

'■'r. CC 









CiCC^C 



<3g^ 









<3jf3^<- 


















#^^5 






4:-^<r::<2C 
























ccs: 
CCTC 

ccrcf 



Jtgt 









■« ■< c cr « • 



<~<r 






SgCCc ^ 



__ r c re _^ 






c<r<r 






<^'- 






&'^ <r 



<c ~<c^<C 






— ^ c c e' 






^<C-'' C' re <r ^ 









-^ <<^<«C?^£ ^^S<L«i C c < 






Lcc:cc:r 

LC <js ' 



x^. 

^xK 

f^^^ 



".9^^- 


















5S <5i ' 


















a:ic 



, .' «z.. « 



j«:^^c?e<;c" 



-jgLCCcg^c 















c: <£cc 



- aoc «Lt c 

«c<r <Lc. < 

:.. <:^' c ■ 



TCC dc C' 

— _<: .^''-^^^ 
r c-: c^«rsr 



" c <*c« 












^^^<'^ 



•c < <r «<:c 






C <' C '■ <? 



a^<^ c<L <- ^v 



<r < 



<<:<'; C" cr<«:<z 

4SK:- C 






<^ C< r <S§C c c<^c c< c ' '- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 







